空の財団: The Foundations of the Sky
by Autumn's Effervescence
Summary: What if Naruto's surname meant more than just a simple title? What if his ancestors had a history beyond that of the typical family stories? Reflected in his eyes are the eerie truth of the past, the present, and inevitably, the future. Bloodline!Naruto
1. The Creation of the Foundation

Well... I'm pretty sure that the Japanese translation in the title's wrong... A friend of mine taking Japanese told me that it was right, but she's not in the advanced classes yet, so I'm not sure quite yet... D:

This is a stronger n smarter Naruto, yes, but not to excessive levels. His intelligence did rise drastically, and his strength is now up to par with an average, depending on whether its taijutsu, ninjutsu, or genjutsu, but that's pretty much tops. He does mantain hints and pieces of the oblivious Naruto that we've all grown to love, though, and I don't wanna give him an entire makeover...

Though I did make Naruto extremely petulant about shinobi - He does later re-take his ambition to become Hokage, but at the moment, he's interested with the sky. Though I admit that it sounds utterly absurd, it'll make sense after a while. And _no._ His infactuated ambition about the sky isn't literal. Well.. Not really, anyways. XD

Nonetheless - This is the bloodline fic promised via poll results. I hope you enjoy! :D

Dialogue Interpretations:

"Character Speech"

_.:Character Thoughts:._

**.:. Demonic Speech.:.**

Disclaimer: I hold no possession, or any great love for that matter of, the ownership of Naruto, seeing all the twisty snarky bits of plot that I just know will kill me if I end up owning Naruto. Poor Kishimoto, though.

* * *

**Sky **(noun), s_kai-ii: _(1) The expanse of air over any given point over the Earth, (2) the celestial regions surrounding the Earth, (3) the heavens.

* * *

.x Prologue x.

* * *

As a child, Uzumaki Naruto had always had a sole occupation in mind, an absurd notion that he had always been attached to, even in childhood.

Of course, this want of the occupation had grown out of fascination, of utter devotion with the subject.

After all, even as a child, Uzumaki Naruto had always harbored an odd, almost obsessive, fascination with the sky.

It had begun as a simple muted curiosity that was natural of children. He would stare occasionally out of a window at the sky in unabated curiosity and wonder, but that had been tops. Until his curiosity had grown to awe, at least. At that point in his life, he had scaled the Hokage Tower to get a better glimpse of the sky. But then, the awe had left and something else had morphed in him - some odd fascination, almost akin to devotion. To the sky. It was absurd, and his goal in life utterly improbable - but the Uzumaki was undeterred, occasionally calling out promises that he would become what he claimed to want to be and everyone else just wait, he'd show them.

The fascination, and odd interest in the profession that didn't exist - _couldn't_ exist - survived his childhood, and continuing being a topic of interest to him even in adulthood, though at that point in his life, the goal was more metaphorical than literal. It was a topic that worried others, as the only way he could even remotely succeed in his goal was to negoticate with death, but that was a failed possibility with many, wasn't it?

Uzumaki Naruto had, after all, always, from childhood to adulthood, desired to become a function of the sky, a part of the expansive space above the various Nations and Countries populating the Earth.

It was a childish goal, created from the immaturity of a child. But even the Sandaime's gentle coaxing couldn't deter the child from musing idily about the sky in a clear desire to become a part of it.

But perhaps it was inevitable. Konohagaku, the village of the Leaf, the village in which was believed to grow as does a tree, may have only encouraged the child onto his goals.

Had it been only inevitable that a fledgling would take rest in the expansive branches of the branches of the village, and mature into a bird capable of flight away from the tree's capturing arms, and towards the sky to become one with it?

* * *

.x. Chapter I .x.

.x. The Creation of the Foundation .x.

* * *

The Sandaime, former mentor of the three legendary Sannin, known throughout the Nations as the 'God of Shinobi,' and current Hokage of Konohagaku no Sato, would never have imagined facing his most elegant verbal warfare with, who else?, but an 11-year-old child. The child, instrumental to Konoha's safety, which would go down less easily than the Council themselves. Who else would make such a worthy adversery?

Nevertheless, this particular child was different from the others, he mused. But still, this continued stubbornness was almost absurd, now. And yet...

Taking a new stance, the Sandaime tried tackling the subject once more.

"The Academy is open to all children of Konohogaku. It is the foundation of all shinobi. Without the education administered by the Academy, you cannot become a shinobi, Naruto." He was appealing to the child's bright side, though he had no idea if the child wanted to be a shinobi or a civilian. They'd never settled those differences, and now the backlash was getting to him. "The applications are due next week. I have the papers here. Do you wish to become a shinobi, the elite, of Konoha, Naruto?" He waited patiently.

"Can shinobi fly?" The blonde child, Uzumaki Naruto, asked, as he sat petulantly in the seat opposite the Hokage's in the Hokage Tower.

The Hokage sighed. The child had asked the same question on all the various occasions in which he, the Hokage, had practically implored that the petulant child enter the Academy. It was almost infuriating how the question vexed him and settled the argument all those years prior to this one. But, this year, he was determined to not give an inch.

"Shinobi cannot fly, unfortunately." The Hokage explained. "But neither can civilians, for that matter. Shinobi can, however, walk on water and other such unstable elements of nature."

"Then can shinobi _walk_ on air?"

"No, they cannot, Naruto."

"Can shinobi walk on fire?"

"Well... They can make fire, but no. They cannot walk on it."

"Shinobi can't fly, can't walk on air, can't walk on fire..." Naruto listed vaguely. "It sounds like some regular civilian chore, really, Jiji."

The Sandaime would've have a heart-attack if it had been any other child disgracing the occupation of ninjas. But, seeing as it was Naruto... he selected his words with care.

"Civilians cannot walk on water, which is something that a shinobi _can_ do. Surely, walking on water is an aspect of becoming... ah, what was it?... a part of the sky, was it, Naruto-kun?"

Something flashed in the Uzumaki's cerulean eyes. "It's not enough," he stated flatly. "And they don't teach you how to walk on water in the Academy. They teach you to trip other people with nin-wires there. I saw it once from a window. It's a waste of my time."

"I'll talk to the Academy about it. I strongly doubt that they were learning to trip others with wir -"

"The teacher was measuring the wire and a child ran up and tripped on it." Naruto interrupted. "It sounds like tripping to me."

"Let's talk about that at another time." The Sandaime explained tactfully. "I'll make sure to keep that particular... activity from continuing in the Academy, then. As for now, let's stay on the topic of my proposition to you to become a shinobi of Konohagaku."

This was the last year in which Naruto was able to become a shinobi of Konohagakure, since the age restrictions on the Academy were on the tender age of 11, and no later. And seeing how Naruto's 11th birthday had finally come along, and how otherwise the child would be sent to Danzo's ROOT, it was a rather testy proposition.

"I don't see the point." Naruto replied. "It's a very dangerous job with high mortality rates. I dunno about you, really, but I rather _like_ staying alive, Jiji."

"Yes, yes, Naruto. We all do." The Hokage said patiently, even as his hands itched to just throttle something. "If you're a good enough ninja, you'll have less possibility of dying on the job. Dying is not something that we ninja wish for, after all."

"Really? I heard some went suicidal. Or crazy. I hear that there's a whole bunch of ninja in the infirmary. Am I right, Jiji?"

The Sandaime's shoulders slumped in the prospect of yet another defeat at the hands of this 11-year-old urchin. "It's not as bad as you make it out to be. There's always the possibility of retiring after living a nice long life as a ninja."

"Three years of being a Genin and retiring sounds just great, then. How about that, Jiji?" The blond's eyes twinkled with mischief. "D-rank missions all my ninja career... Sounds perfectly safe and harmless to me."

"Most shinobi don't retire until reaching Chuunin, at least."

"Genin seems tops for safety when being a ninja, though." Naruto frowned. "Civilian life sounds just magical compared to life as a shinobi..."

"You won't know until you actually try being a shinobi, Naruto." The Sandaime replied wearily.

The blond eyed the Hokage speculatively. "That's true... But it's still a very dangerous job, ne, Hokage-sama?"

"I won't deny that the profession is dangerous, but there are the benefits to be reaped, Naruto, upon becoming a shinobi."

"I don't know, Jiji..."

"I have a proposition for you." The Sandaime leaned forward to voice his last thoughts. "You won't die if you're powerful enough to counter the enemy's blows. And here, I can help you."

"And?" Naruto lifted an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed thus far.

"In exchange for joining the Academy and becoming a ninja of Konohogakure no Sato, you have my express permission to borrow any scrolls from my personal library pertaining to any jutsu of your level. Excluding those marked in red, which are trade secrets, surely you'd understand that. And..." he continued at Naruto's deadpan look. "You'll receive a reputable Jounin sensei for when you graduate the Academy, and you'll have my safety as Hokage over whatever idiocy you pull as Chuunin and higher." The Hokage paused speculatively. "Is it a deal?"

Cerulean eyes blinked up in mute agreement after a moment of hesitant pause. "It's a deal."

It went without saying that now, the Hokage felt not entirely at ease with the situation, especially considering how much he had given to accomodate Naruto, but he shook off the feeling. He was Hokage. What trivial matters could concern him?

"Have you had lunch yet, Naruto? I believe that the ramen-stand that you're so fond of is still open."

"You're treating me to ramen?"

"Yes, I am."

A second passed, and then Naruto's stiff demeanor cracked.

"Yatta!" The whooping cry was nearly enough to deafen the elderly Hokage. "Ramen! Ramen! Ramen!"

"I need to retire one of these days..." The Hokage mused, feeling a growing sense of dread as to the future of his wallet as the child continued shouting.

But it was all for good, he consoled himself. After all, even Naruto couldn't eat so much in one sitting... Could he?

"Ramen! My precious! And seeing how I didn't eat this morning... I'll get to eat more now! Mwahahaha! Ramen! My sweet! My precious!"

...Well, that was the chances of his wallet's survival going from .0001 to absolute zero. _.: But it's all in the good of Konoha. :._ He willed himself to believe the comforting eight words as he slowly trudged off to the impending demise of his wallet. The poor little wallet dear. Life had not been very nice to it thus far... Karma would be kinder to it in its next life.

.x. .x. .x.

"All cleared out! Although there wasn't very much ramen before you came, you've just finished clearing us out for the day." The ramen-vendor reported. "Congratulations, Naruto-san! You've broken your old record and made a new one! Fifty bowls in one sitting! Rather impressive, I'd say! We'll fix you up a special next time you come, alright?"

"Hai, hai!" Naruto smiled, feeling the contentment of a full meal settle comfortingly on his stomach. "Arigatou!"

"You should come by more often, Naruto-san. We have a wide variety of different ramen types that you'll probably like." The ramen-vendor paused before slipping a piece of paper towards the blond. "Ah... The bill, here."

"It's for you, Jiji." Naruto palmed the piece of paper to the Sandaime. "Your treat, right?"

"Since when did this become my treat?" The Hokage inquired, looking at the paper as if it'd explode and willing himself to not look at the amount due. Considering how much Naruto had eaten, he supposed that his concern went with merit.

"Since you offered to treat me." Naruto replied blandly. "Pay up, Jiji."

Sarutobi sighed, before carefully analysising the piece of paper. Two big fat zeros stared up forlornly at him. Accompanied, of course, with another fat three. 300. Blinking, he wondered if he was simple dreaming of one of the zeros... It would certainly diminish the payment due...

"Hurry up, Jiji!" The Naruto's voice called. "Teuchi-san's not going to pay himself, you know!"

_.: Oh, I know that alright. Cheeky brat. :._ Sarutobi wondered briefly if he should just pull a Kawarimi and have the blond pay for his own meal. After all, Sarutobi himself had only had one bowl of miso ramen. But, then again, that might caused the brat to think that the ninja techniques were used only as methods of stealing and cheating, which was never good.

Slowly, painfully, he retracted his hand to reach for his wallet which practically quivered with the fear of the ones knowing of their impending demise.

_.: It's for the good of Konoha. :._ But why did it feel like he was trying more to convince himself that it was true than anything else? Next week, the child would be the academy, he soothed his wallet. But there remained the chilling thought: How many more meals would the child eat at his cost in the meantime?

That day, sitting at a ramen stand, feeling the odors of ramen, now suddenly so repugnant to him, waft in front of him, and extracting the amount due from his wallet, Sarutobi felt a familiar want to throttle turned to want to kill directed at the blond, and for the first time in a long time, his tear glands watered up and tears wafted up in his eyes.

.x. .x. .x.

"The Henge no Jutsu is a ninjutsu that is often used to hide or conceal your identity from foreign or enemy nin. It is an E-class, but is highly useful in the field of battle."

Naruto yawned, feeling tears prick at his eyes in his want for slumber. The class was so exceedingly_ boring_. He didn't know how anyone had survived these classes long enough to become ninja.

The boy nestled his head so that it was propped up to some degree on his arms, but hardly visible to the teacher.

"Naruto!" The teacher called. "Is the Henge a ninjutsu or a genjutsu technique?"

"Wait, what? Repeat that."

The class snickered as the teacher, Iruka, sighed.

"Which is the Henge: A ninjutsu or genjutsu technique?"

"I thought you said it was a ninjutsu." Naruto replied, snapping out of his semi-conscious daze of sleep long enough to focus on the question.

"Fair enough." The teacher turned away, satisfied, before calling on another unsuspecting student to answer a question on the Kawarimi Jutsu. And then he promptly launched into a lesson about the history of Snow Country. And following that, Earth Country and Fire Country as the class groaned.

Naruto simply slept on.

.x. .x. .x.

"...Naruto?"

"Hai, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto paused, mid-step from the threshold of the classroom door.

"Stay behind for a moment."

"Hai, sensei." Naruto obliged, waiting until the other students filtered out of the classroom. "What is it? Class just ended, didn't it?"

"It's not about classes, Naruto."

"It's pranks again, isn't it?" Naruto inquired before shouting. "I didn't pull any in the last week - I swear! That stunt with the falling chairs was Konohamaru! Konohamaru! I -"

Iruka sighed. "It's not pranks either, Naruto."

"Then... What is it, sensei?" Naruto blinked in confusion, his moment of acting gone as quickly as it had come and replaced with curious confusion.

"The Graduation exam."

"Ah." Naruto's eyes cleared. "What about them?"

"Hokage-sama told me that you're not exceptionally keen on becoming a ninja." The teacher turned his gaze away. "From that... I don't know if it's irrational or not... But I get the impression that you'll sabatoge your own participation in the Exams."

"That's all you wanted to talk to me about?"

"That's not_ all_, Naruto. Well, actually, it is. But that doesn't mean that this is supposed to be taken lightly! Flunking intentionally is looked down on in the Academy. If I find that you didn't make a good effort -"

"Don't bother, Iruka-sensei. Hokage-jiji already drilled this in my head. I'll be fine. Don't worry." The blond waved off his concerns. "Just wait till tomorrow, sensei! I'll show you I can pass. Really!"

Iruka held his gaze a moment longer before relenting. "I bet you will, Naruto. Now... You can leave."

A brief moment later, the room was devoid of a certain mischief-making 11-year-old child, and the teacher, left behind as the sole occupant of the room, sighed.

.x. .x. .x.

"I never imagined that Jiji's library would be so helpful." Naruto mused quietly in speculation as he glanced down at the scroll with the information neccessary for the Bunshin. "It's like a mine full of info."

The past year, he'd been practically living here, soaking up the information that this vault of information had to offer. And it seldom disappointed him - often showing him a dazzling jutsu that was required for the Academy just in the nick of time. Who would concetrate in class when all the information he ever needed in life was here, anyways?

"Bunshin, Bunshin... Let's see..." Naruto scanned the contents of the scroll. "This is it? Seriously? A handseal and a dash of chakra. Wow. What a joke." Cerulean eyes speculatively eyed the scroll placed by the Bunshin. "Jiji should stock up more on useful jutsu than this stuff... Wonder what this scroll is, though..." He tipped the other scroll back from the shelf.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Naruto shrugged. "Well... 'S long as it's better than the regular Bunshin. Let's see what it says..."

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, is known for being almost exclusively contained in the Leaf village, Konohagaku no Sato. The jutsu allows solid clones to be made by the user, in contrast to the 'illusionary' clones created by the Bunshin no Jutsu. This jutsu is also almost exclusive in 'clone' jutsus in the regard that the clones allow the wielder to gain whatever information gained by the clones after they disperse. The clones can often be dispersed with a good solid hit. The jutsu requires extensive chakra and is a B-rank ninjutsu._

Naruto grinned at the prospects arisen from the nin-technique. A technique involving solid clones. What else could he have possibly asked for?

.x. .x. .x.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka called from his position behind the mutually shared teacher's desk, adjusted for Graduation day - the day in question taking place at the moment. "The Bunshin no Jutsu. Six clones."

"Bunshin, Bunshin... Ah, that one! Let's see..." The words were muttered in a whisper as Naruto positioned his hands to accomodate for the proper handseals and six bursts of smoke poofed into existance.

Six clones, disarmingly perfect, bubbled into existance - all of them an exact replica of the actual Naruto.

"How are they, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked innocently.

"Perfect." Iruka snapped the gradebooks closed just as the clones faded from existance. "Done, Naruto. Grab a headband, will you?"

"Sure, sure." Naruto palmed the headband of his choice. "So I graduate?"

"Yes. You graduate. Congratulations, Naruto." Iruka turned to bring in the next potential graduate. "Step outside with the other graduates."

Naruto smiled disarmingly up at the teacher. "Thanks, sensei!" he called sweetly before leaving the room, cackling madly, leaving Iruka to wonder over what had just happened.

.x. .x. .x.

"He graduated. _Him_. I can't believe -"

"Everyone graduated. I d-"

"Still, I wouldn't have minded if that thing didn't pass."

"I'd rather he hadn't gotten any ninja training at all. Can you imagine how it'd be with him parading around like a ninja?"

_"Shush._ Remember Sandaime-sama's decree? We're not allowed to talk about it anymore than neccessary."

"I know. But _still_ -"

"We don't need to spare words for demons."

Naruto flinched, recognizing the vebal abuse directed his way. It wasn't like the Third had ordered that he'd graduate - Naruto had done it on his own. Then why were they all so spitefully hateful of him? Almost as if he had physically taken the village in his hands and smashed it into his other hand. Absurd, and yet, the spiteful manner of speaking was degrading enough to bring on that assumption.

He_ wanted_ to escape to the sky. He had been told of the reprieve to be found there by the Sandaime himself. He'd always found it soothing... Why would it never allow him to get any closer? Why was he locked into this world of spite and hatred?

A flash of color flickered in his eyes before disappearing, as quickly as it had come - an exotic blue different from his cerulean ones in their lightness - almost as if in reply.

.x. .x. .x.

The Sandaime was, as always, in the Hokage Tower, bravely tackling the worst enemy known to man. Paperwork, of all things. But a lethal enemy, all the same.

For example, at the moment, Sarutobi was on the verge of tears. The stressful time constraint that had come with the new batch of paperwork hadn't helped, apparently.

Color-coded papers were splayed out on the desk in front of him - all with various pictures depicting the Academy students. He'd been deciding which teams would be which for the last half hour, and the event was stressful, if anything.

Team 7 was the particular dilmena here.

For one, the Uzumaki had graduated with fairly average grades. And Uchiha and Haruno had graduated with the top grades of the class. Setting the three in the same group was ideal. Sending Naruto to Kurenai's group wasn't the best idea, since Sarutobi had promised a '_magically wonderfully reputable_' sensei for Naruto. And though Hatake didn't exactly fit in that particular standard, he made a better qualification for it than did Kurenai, simply because of their expontial differences in experience.

And yet, the dead last would have to be placed on Team 7 if the top rookie and kunoichi of the class were to be placed on it. But then, going back to Naruto's average score, that was entirely impossible.

Still.. He could entirely disregard the grades, but was that wise, even? After all... Only so many accomodations could be made before problems formed eventually from the rifts of logic that occasionally situated themselves in the present.

_.: Nevertheless, there's a certain extractment that must be made to adjust the present for the future. :._ The action was almost painful, and ridiculously slow, for that matter, but it was still within minutes that the team placements was finished and submitted to the Academy for briefing.

.x. .x. .x.

"Naruto! Move!" A loud obstrusive voice shattered Naruto's fragile slumber. Haruno Sakura stood in front of the blond, accompanied by Ino Yamanaka, both of their facial expressions amusedly portraying the expression customary of one who'd just been told to eat toilet paper.

"Sakura?" Naruto blinked. "What is it?"

"_Move,_ Naruto! Get off that seat!"

"Why should I move, Sakura?"

"Because Sasuke-kun's sitting on the other side, _baka_!"

"Oh. Sasuke, huh?" Naruto briefly considered not moving, just to liven up the room, but decided against it in want of preserving his life, and standing up. "Full rein ahead, Sakura. Sit, then. I'll find another seat."

"Oi! _I'm_ going to sit there!"

"As _if_, Ino-pig! Didn't you hear Naruto? The seat's mine!"

Walking dociely in his just-awakened slumber, Naruto turned to the seat besides Hyuuga Hinata.

"Ano... Hinata-san? Can I sit here?"

"You piece of pig shit, Ino! That seat is reserved for _me!_" Sakura's voice rung out, deafeningly loud, in the class.

"H-Hai, Naruto-kun." Hinata managed to force out the words, considerably quieter than Sakura, for which he was grateful.

"AAARRRGHH!" The sound of what had come to be recognized as friendly bantering between friends continued, even after Naruto's brief verbal exchange with Hinata.

"Quiet!" A new voice intruded. Iruka emerged from behind the door, clearly irritated. "You're all ninja! Did you forget? Anything you do now represents the shinobi populance!"

Silence filtered into the air after his words took meaning to the new Genin. The Yamanaka quietly took another seat after noticing the prescence of the teacher.

"I'll be calling team placements." Iruka stated. "Team 1 is currently on its third year together. Team 2..."

Naruto quit paying attention, staring at the ceiling instead.

"...Team 4 is on its second year."

The ceiling, Naruto noted, had tiles with sixty-two holes punched in it. It wasn't too much fun counting, but he was bored, so any method of passing time would be welcomed by him with open arms.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto was snapped out of his idle dawdling. "Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke will make up Team 7." Sakura emitted a brief call of victory, unable to help herself, before settling down once more. "Kiba Inuzaku, Shino Aburame, and Hyuuga Hinata are Team 8. Team 9..."

Naruto set his head on the desk in defeat while the Uchiha remained the perfect picture of stoic calm. In the background, Sakura continued to emit warcries of victory.

.x. .x. .x.

"_Where is he?" _Sakura called in frustration well-merited from the three hours of waiting. "Our sensei's _late."_

"Unusually so, even for a teacher." Naruto noted.

"We've established that, idiot."

"I think his tardiness calls for drastic measures." Naruto continued. "Whaddaya you think, Sakura?

"What do you mean, idiot?" A pause ensued before the inevitable: "What the hell are you doing now, anyways, Naruto?"

"Drastic times call for drastic measures." Naruto called in a sickeningly sweet voice, even as he placed a chalkboard eraser on the top of the door. "Wouldn't you agree, Sakura?"

"I never said to try to pull a_ prank_ on our _sensei_!"

"Hn." The stoic Uchiha replied, either in agreement or disagreement, Naruto and Sakura both had no idea. They had yet to learn the ingenious Uchiha one-word coded speech.

...But they drew their assumptions from it, anyways.

"See! Even Sasuke-kun agrees with me!"

"Are you kidding? That was so completely a _'no, Naruto's right!_' Uchiha here is actually smart, you know! He wouldn't agree with you! Didn't you just hear him? He said '_no_' to you!"

"What are you, an idiot?"

"Maybe." Naruto considered, before firing back. "But at least I'm well-versed in Uchiha speech!"

"_Liar!_ Sasuke-kun would never agree with you!"

"That's a bit of an exaggerat-"

"Exaggeration, yeah? Let _me_ tell you what an exaggeration i-" Sakura paused mid-speech. "... Wait a minute... I just heard something."

Even as she spoke, the door squeaked open, and a figure, taller than the three of them and bearing a clear resemblence to Jounin, or a person of power, stood behind the door in frank boredom.

The figure bore a Jounin vest, a facemask, and unusual gravity-defying silver hair. That was as much as Naruto was able to process before the figure stepped into the room, at least.

...Only to have his hair caked in chalkboard dust as the eraser fell on his head.

"...Sensei?" Sakura called uncertainly, too surprised by the unexpected lack of movement to utter anything else. Blinking at the new stifling cloud of chalkboard eraser-induced smoke, she called, "Are you... okay?"

"Let's see... My first impression of you three..." The figure paused deliberately in thought. "...is that I hate you. Meet me on the roof." And then he disappeared in a poof of chakra-enhanced smoke.

Silence ensued and then Sakura turned on Naruto. "Look! Now he hates us! Gee, thanks a lot, Naruto!"

"Hey, hey, at least we know what he's like, don't we?" Naruto asked testily.

"Well..."

"See? No harm done. Come on, Sakura, Sasuke. He said the roof."

"Yeah. Guess so."

"Hn."

.x. .x. .x.

Not surprisingly, by the time that the three had gone up to the roof, their sensei was already there - perched on the edge of the building.

"Let's start with introductions, then." Their teacher stated once they had settled down. "Such as your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and goals."

"Ano... Sensei?" Sakura called timidly, looking up at their potential teacher from under a veil of pink hair. "Could you start? To give us an example?"

The man nodded, unfazed. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have a few likes and dislikes, both of which are none of your business. I have quite a collection of hobbies. Dreams for the future...?" He trailed off thoughtfully before turning his attention to the others. "Start."

"My name's Haruno Sakura. I like..." Sakura stole a glance at the Uchiha. "My hobbies are..." Again, another furtive glance and her cheeks reddened in a blush. "My dreams..." And again, a quick turn to the Uchiha and she muffled a call of adoration between her hands. "...I dislike Ino-pig, though."

_.: I can tell that this is going to be fun. :._ Kakashi turned to Naruto. "And you?"

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto. I like... the sky, really. I dislike waiting the three minutes for packaged ramen to boil. My hobbies include gazing up at the sky. My dreams for the future is to become 'em. The skies." He smiled serenely at the Hatake.

_.: Rather interesting character, despite the physical improbability of his dream. :._ "And you?" He motioned deliberately towards Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have few likes and many dislikes. I have few hobbies, and my dream... No, _ambition_... for the future is to revive the Uchiha clan, and to kill a certain man."

_.: As was only expected :. _Hatake mused idily as Sakura stared at the Uchiha, profound awe in her gaze.

"Alright." A new briskness entered Hatake's voice as he stood against the rail placed conveniently at the far edge of the building. "Let me tell you three now about the true Genin test..."

.x. .x. .x.

The night was all but quiet as the insects outside chirped in a manner reminiscent of crickets. But for once, the noise was welcome to Naruto as a pleasant distraction.

His team was a source of profound mystery. Sakura with her crush on Sasuke and yet that timidity regarding her physical features, forehead especially. Though that mystery could be quickly deciphered, it was better to just wait for confirmation.

Sasuke was another thing altogether. He spent a majority of his time in the Academy brooding and sulking. And occasionally, his eyes hazed over with the gauze of the past, a painful past, apparently, according to the fifty-ninth book to the left side, Section A-B12 of the Sandaime's library about ocular abnormalities regarding emotions. A mysterious past. He was the type that girls swooned for, but he was far too wrapt up in his past to notice. And his words - his ambition was to kill a man. Depressingly mysterious, really. But he was his teammate. Naruto had to brace himself to endure it.

And then there was Kakashi. Mysterious and dark in a light similar to Sasuke's own, but having learned to put up a mask of indifference - perhaps integrating it into his personality, even. Perhaps. He had yet to know the full functions of the team, after all. It had only been their first day.

A dysfunctional group that couldn't operate a single day with all of them and him, as well. Much less survive as a team.

Glancing up at the sky above him, Naruto wondered how long his apparent team could survive with such stark differences. And, after musing idily over the matter and coming up with a solution, he smiled vaguely, satisfied, up at the night sky.

* * *

...This was definitely something different from what I'm used to doing. Well... It was fun, so I guess that it's all good. :D

Naruto in this story isn't the strongest or smartest person. Which is what I was going for, really. I've read a lot of fics with drastic changes in Naruto's personality, and I think that this is drastic enough. I'd rather him maintain some aspects of him that we just associate with Naruto so he doesn't come off as a completely different character whose only similarity with the real Naruto is his name.

Naruto isn't very romantically taken with Sakura, either, as you probably noted. Crushes on his behalf won't exist yet since I really have no idea as for the pairing and I dunno if someone who wants to become involved with the sky wants to be involved with someone else. That'd probably result in a bunch of heartache and tears. D: Though I'll take pairing requests and see what I can do. :D

And _yes_, I know that the transitions are kind of still rough and the scenes move abnormally fast, but I wanna get to the bloodline in the next chapter at least but still wanna lay out a foundation, so... wish me luck on that, then. XD

His whole fascination with the sky will be explained throughout the story and he'll receive his bloodline in the second or third chapter. I'm not sure how long I wanna make the 2nd chapter yet, so it could take a while.

I'm skipping Kakashi's introductionary 'bell test' though!!! D: The story takes as much space as it needs to, thank you very much. :D

_**Poll:**_ Well, not exactly a poll, actually, but more like: _Throw whatever pairings you want at me and I'll try to work it out... Maybe, anyways._ Straight, shounen-ai, yuri, yaoi... Anything, really, and I'll see what I'll end up with. XD Just not NaruSaku and SasuNaru. There's enough of those pairings around and personally, I don't reckon that those pairings will work with this storyline.

About the fascination with the sky, go read my Team 7 fic 'Illustrations of the Sky,' for more details. I've been drawing back on that story in little bits so it could clarify quite a bit about this story. Just try to remember that at this point, his whole friendship theory doesn't exist yet because he has so little friends at the moment, so he's still at that childlike stage in which he wishes to (metaphorically) become the sky.

Drop a review off and have a nice day~! :D


	2. The Drifting Mist

I hope no one minds me clarifying some questions and corrections here:

BabyVee: Really? I never really noticed - or, at least, all those anti-Council fics out there led me to believe their ideals. Nevertheless, I'll prevent the mistake from happening again. Thanks. :D

Buzzbumble: I'm not sure as to where this story will go pairing-wise, myself. Thus, I can't lay out a warning quite yet. I've removed the possibility of NaruHina and SasuSaku, but I can't confirm anything else. Flaky? I wouldn't say that... After all, it's only natural for a child to dream, isn't it? :D

And now, the introductionary AN that everyone loaths to read. XD :

I've skipped the bell test and only put in the very _very_ end. I want lay a foundation, but I think it'd be a bit ridiculous if I took any longer to incorporate the bloodline. The chapter's already stretched out enough as it is.

Basically, the test went as it did in canon but with Naruto acting a ton less stupid and without him using the Kage Bunshin technique. Thus, Team 7 doesn't know quite yet about Naruto's ability to perform the Kage Bunshin jutsu. I wanted to write out the bell test, honest! But then if I did, then I wouldn't be able to get to Naruto's bloodline in even the next chapter, which would really be pushing it, wouldn't it?

In this chapter, Naruto's Kekkei Genkai wanes here and there but doesn't get activated fully until the next chapter. I know it's really taking a lot of time to lay out the foundation, but I swear: The Kekkei Genkai will be in the next chapter! And you do see faint traces of it in this chapter...

The pairing results are at the bottom of the chapter. :D

And the beginning in italics is a part separate from the chapter, but in relation to the story. Anyone wanting to catch the very ends of Kakashi's bell-test probably should start by reading from there.

Dialogue Interpretations:

"Character Speech"

_.:Character Thoughts:._

**.:. Demonic Speech.:.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto - honest! XD

* * *

_The sound of crackling dry leaves billowing against the crisp morning air grated on the senses of the newly graduated Genins as the Jounin before them, looming precariously above the terrified Genins, held the verdict as for what turn their lives would take - if he spared their lives at all._

_Naruto's eyes hardened into barely distinguishable slits, as his irises took on a majestic, if waning, blue, exotically different from his normal cerulean eyes._

_Thunder roared ominously in the far South._

_"Team 7..." A dramatic pause in which Naruto, if only grudgingly, had to give the Jounin credit for. "...Passes."_

_Naruto eyed the Jounin skeptically._

_Sunlight waned behind a curtain of darkly knit clouds._

_Sakura was the first to react, snapping quickly out of her stupor. "...Sensei?"_

_"You're the first team." The Hatake replied curtly. "To not blindly follow my orders. After all, those who don't follow the rules are trash, but those that abandon their comrades are worse than trash." A noteworthy pause stilled the air before a final compliment was extracted from the Jounin. "Congratulations."_

_The atmosphere visibly relaxed, and the three newly incorporated Genin smiled tentatively in the prospects of a promised tomorrow._

_The clouds that had darkened ominiously now lightened, the winds quit, and the thunder roaring in the distance muted._

_Unnoticed by all, Naruto's cerulean eyes, having turned a navy blue during the time frame of the disturbances of nature, darkened back to their original cerulean hue._

* * *

.x. Chapter II .x.

.x. The Drifting Mist .x.

* * *

"I'm in position to capture the target."

"Same." Naruto turned to the unassuming shadow lurking by the trees. "In both position and capturing."

"Hn."

"Alright." The bored drawl of their mutual teacher called. "Go."

A flurry of movement took place by a clearing of trees, and then Naruto emerged, triumphantly holding a cat with a wide satin ribbon wrapped securely on a darkly-tinted ear.

"Target captured." Naruto reported.

"Confirm the target. Does it have a ribbon on its right ear?"

"Hai, hai. It does."

"Alright." The headset they were wearing crackled with static. "Mission 'Capture lost pet: Tora' completed. Let's head back."

"Sensei?" The headset crackled to life once more and Sakura's voice emitted from the earpiece. "Can we get a better mission on going back?"

Static buzzed in their ears for a moment before the reply came. "That depends on what they have up there now, doesn't it?"

"Aww... That's a 'no,' isn't it?"

"Let's just head back, shall we?" Kakashi suggested.

"Hn." The Uchiha grunted his approval.

.x. .x. .x. .x.

"Tora-chan!"

"_Grrr_ - _aar_!"

"And you wonder about the forms of animal cruelty out there in the world," Naruto murmured thoughtfully, as he witnessed the improptu strangling of Tora via vise-tight grip by the Daiymo's wife.

"It deserves it." Sakura replied dismissively.

"That's a bit cruel, isn't it, Sakura? I mean, if you were the cat, you'd probably run away too!"

"But I'm _not_ a cat, Naruto."

"I meant metaphorically! Ca-"

"Alright!" The Sandaime interrupted them, exhaling on his pipe as he did so. Tendrils of smoke escaped into the room. "Another completed D-rank, Team 7. Congrats. Your next mission is either to babysit Yuki's children or pull weeds from the Aburame clan's garden -"

"Ano... Sandaime-sama?" Sakura interjected hesitantly. "Aren't there any other missions we can take? Any... higher missions, maybe?"

"I second that, actually." Naruto remarked. "No Genin team can advance successfully when given only menial chores to do."

"No. Your team is only beginning to grasp the basics. D-rank missions are a neccessarity to build up your foundation as a team." The Sandaime explained. "Then you can take C-ranks, until advancing to Chuunin. At the moment, however, your rank and experience merit D-rank missions."

"But... Jiji! We've done nothing that _merits_ teamwork in D-rank missions! Chasing cats are something that_ civilians_ can do! If you give us a mission that merits teamwork, we'll grow to be a better team!"

"_Idiot!_ Quit questioning Hokage-sama's orders!"

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto wailed dramatically."How could you side with _Jiji_?"

"Because he's right! And call the Hokage by his proper title, Naruto!"

"No, Iruka." Sarutobi intervened. "Naruto's right, for once. Our judgement is often clouded by tradition, after all."

"...Hokage-sama?"

"Team 7 receives a C-rank escort mission." Sarutobi stated, handing a new mission scroll to the Hatake. "To Wave. To give them something that merits teamwork. I trust that this will satisfy you, Naruto?"

"Hai, Jiji!" Naruto chirped brightly. "Who're we escorting?"

The Sandaime coughed discreetly. "Tazuna... Enter, if you will."

The door slid open seamlessly, revealing a very drunk, and very tipsy and drunk man leaning against the doorframe.

"My name is Tazuna. I am the super bridge-builder from Wave. I expect super-great protection from..." The man's eyes narrowed in a drunken haze as he analysised the team in front of him more clearly. "...Children? These children are supposed to take care of me? They don't look like they can protect a daft bat..."

"We don't _have_ to protect a daft bat." Naruto replied smoothly. "We have to protect_ you._ You might as well pray that we do a good job of it, too. Or your life goes down the drain right with us."

Whatever color had been in the bridge-builder's face vanished into an appalling shade of white.

"Don't worry, Tazuna-san." Kakashi cut in lazily. "I'm a Jounin ensured to provide protection if they cannot."

"Way to ruin my fun, Kakashi-sensei."

"There's no threatening the client, Naruto."

"Really? Do you have that down on paper?"

"...No. I believe that it's mutual code of honor amongst shinobi."

"No writing, no signature from the Hokage, no paperwork in general against threatening the client..." Naruto smiled in what Kakashi realized now was a false deception of innocence. "I rest my case."

.x. .x. .x. .x.

"Kakashi-sensei? Have you ever been to Wave Country before?" Naruto called innocently as the group slowly trudging away from the village gates, walking away from their mutual home.

"Yes." Kakashi paused. "Why?"

"Just curious." Naruto shrugged. "How is it there, anyways?"

"I didn't have time to stay and observe the scenery." Kakashi replied dryly. "I was on a mission."

"You'd have _some_ idea of how it's like, sensei! 'Fess up!"

Kakashi sighed. "Wave was a very normal country surrounded by water when I went there. Does that satisfy you, Naruto?"

"Kind of." Naruto nodded before turning away, turning his attention mutely to a cloud of dust kicked up from his feet.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura intervened. "Do they have any ninja there?"

"No. Their economy is based solely on civilians. If every country in existance had a shinobi populance, it'd be bad for business, wouldn't it?"

"It'd be very good for business." Naruto corrected. "...To the civilian population, anyways."

"I meant Konoha, Naruto."

"Oh... Then it'd be very bad for business. Very bad." Naruto agreed quickly. "We'd lose about a third of our business incomes."

"And how do you know that, Naruto?" Sakura prompted. "I never heard of the business income thing, even in the library."

"I doubt you have access to Jiji's personal library." Naruto shrugged. "The place is loaded. Tells you everything you need."

"Right." Sakura blinked. "And why, exactly, do _you_ have access to the Third's personal library, Naruto?"

Naruto smiled serenely at the kunoichi. "Because, Sakura, as I've been pointing out to the Sandaime for the past three years: shinobi can't fly."

.x. .x. .x. .x.

A puddle of water, completely incopicious by the barren and otherwise dry land, lay innocently, innocently rippling in the glare of the sun.

_.: Is that...? :._ Naruto sent out a sliver of chakra, unnoticed by all, towards the puddle of water. A deep resonating and thoroughly repugnant chakra emitted from the puddle in a fleeting moment of response.

_.: A couple of Genin, a set of Chuunin at most. :._ Naruto mused quietly as his eyes lit up with comprehension. _.: I don't reckon it's rained for days. No one else would make such an elementary mistake. :._

After stealing a quick look around, Naruto noticed that Sasuke hadn't seen the contradicting logic of the puddle existing, and Sakura had been too busy trying to cater to the Uchiha's needs to notice. Kakashi had developed a new gleam in his eyes, though. Noticing before him, even. Naruto smirked in satisfaction.

His shoulders relaxed, calming. If their sensei had known, then clearly, the situation was under control.

Whistling softly under his breath, Naruto absently passed the puddle of water.

.x. .x. .x. .x.

They had appeared out of nowhere. Silver oxygen masks firmly in place on their sickly white faces, and metal weaponary on every visible inch of their uniforms.

...Or, perhaps it hadn't been quite out of nowhere. They'd appeared from that puddle of water that they'd crossed earlier - but who would've known that the puddle wasn't just a splash of water fallen from the skies? It had looked so _normal_, even by the compacted and rather dry earth nearby. With the complimentary leaves and trees nearby... Who would've known?

Sakura stumbled backwards instinctively, eyes lit up in panic. Just barely keeping the surprised scream of horror from escaping her mouth, and feeling spasms work in her throat as Kakashi-sensei was ripped to bloody mangled shreds in front of them. Her eyes watered painfully, even as the weapon that they'd used retracted, making it a possible lethal weapon against the rest.

"One little piggie." Their voices were low menacing whispers. The gutteral quality to their voices were clearly enhanced from their masks, but nonetheless, Sakura felt fear stop her mind from working slowly, feeling panic slow her movements, and a temptation to fall to oblivion, to end this terror, destroy her resolve to move.

The two nin turned their weapon, still slick from blood, inwards. And before Sakura could even call out a warning, their footsteps sounded against the compact ground. One towards Naruto. The other headed to Sasuke-kun.

The Uchiha remained utterly composed, even in the face of potential battle, forming a Kawamari to escape the initial blow.

And Naruto... Even as the Chuunin stood before him, the blond simply stood, smiling, if guardedly, at the two briefly as if they were coming to greet him. But perhaps they were, with their metallic weapons that perfumed the air with the odor of dried and caking blood. Not exactly the greeting that Sakura would call warm and welcoming, but a greeting, nonetheless.

One of the ninjas threw out a chain, stained heavily with blood, towards the Uzumaki. Who smiled for a fleeting second and then moved at last.

His movements were clear and precise, that much Sakura had to begrudge him. Leaping a good two feet above the barbed chain, and driving a kunai through one of the links - pinning it on the ground. The offending ninja stumbled as the chain no longer supported his weight and Naruto bopped the nin lightly on the head with his foot as gravity caught up with his leap into air at last.

And then Sasuke tackled the other ninja, trapping the other in a maze of shiruken and kunai.

And she stood there. _.: Useless. :._ The word drifted to her, even in this pertrified state of being. But wasn't it logical only to be afraid?_ .: Sasuke-kun would be so disappointed. :._ Something in her mind clicked. The foundational rules of being a ninja was to invite the possibility of death on missions, wasn't it?

And yet, admist the carnage of death...

Adrenaline pushed through her veins, breaking the stiffness in her muscules with apparent ease. Her weapons holster hung limply at her side, even as her fingers twitched towards them, muscules spasming once more in that irregular attempt to fuel the adrenaline, allow _something_ on her behalf to occur.

Making up her mind, she dislodged a kunai from her holster and went to join Sasuke.

.x. .x. .x. .x.

Naruto felt the enemy shinobi's blood spill from a new gash, cutting open a new ribbon of red. Crimson red droplets of the substance lingered briefly in the air, defying gravity for a breathless second, before splattering on the ground.

"Chuunin, are you?" Naruto called, laughing almost insanely, one could remark. A shiruken twirled absently on his fingers as his eyes narrowed, surveying the damage done. The shiruken stopped mid-twirl and Naruto slowly dropped into a new stance - that bore more resemblence of shinobi taijutsu. "'Could've fooled me, really."

The shinobi snarled in retiliation, but before he could even remove a kunai from his holster, the enemy nin's head, along with the other enemy nin's, were caught in a headlock by a very familiar figure, effectively ending the fight, no matter how improptu the method was.

Looking up at the figure, Naruto grinned. "Back to the world of the living already, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well, I couldn't have my teammates dying on me, could I?" Kakashi replied rhetorically, sole visible eye curling into an inverted U.

"Sensei!" Sakura turned, startled. "You're alive!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Way to point out the obvious, Sakura."

The kunoichi had the decency to blush as she stammered. "I-I saw..."

"It was a Kawamiri." Naruto pointed vaguely at the freshly-cut timbers. "See? Firewood."

Kakashi shrugged them off. "Nonetheless, Naruto, these are the Demon Brothers." He stated, indicating the two enemy nin. "Chuunin. From Kiri. An interesting trait integrated in Kiri nin are that they're practically programmed to fight to the death."

"And you let us fight them?" Sakura called, turning accusing emerald green eyes towards the Hatake. "Sensei! You could've gotten us killed!"

"Maaa... I didn't believe that you three could be taken down that easily. And I was right, wasn't I?" Kakashi replied soothingly. "I wanted to check something, anyways. After all, I had to check if the Brothers had been after us ninja, or after our client. And we have our answer now, don't we?"

"Tazuna." Sakura breathed softly in revelation. "But that doesn't make sense... This was a C-rank..."

"It wouldn't make sense." Kakashi agreed. "Unless, of course, the client's been lying."

The four turned on the lone civilian amongst them.

"Spill it, Tazuna-san." Naruto smiled disarmingly at the man. "What've you been hiding from us thus far? I'm just _dying_ to know."

"Interesting choice for a metaphor." Sasuke muttered.

"So, Tazuna." Kakashi's overly false cheerful demeanor seemed to loom over the bridge-builder. "Why would a set of Chuunin be set after you?"

Cowed by the intimidating presences in front of him, Tazuna gave in. "Let me tell you the truth: Wave is, in reality, a very poor country," he stated. "It hadn't always been so, though." The man paused for a moment of reflection. "Have any of you heard of a man named Gato, by any chance?"

"Gato?" Kakashi inquired. "The multi-millionare?"

"Yes. Him." Tazuna's eyes involuntarily darkened. "Most of his money comes from shady dealings. Many of his employeed workers are missing-nin. Wave came to know that a few years back, when Gato decided to secure Wave for himself. The bridge that I'm completing is the key to Wave's future. With it, Wave will be able to trade and mantain contact with other lands again and thus, remove Gato's rule from our country. The idea isn't going over so well with Gato, though."

"So he's sent thugs to kill you." Naruto supplied, nodding in the direction of the Kiri Demon Brothers. "Right, Tazuna-san?"

The bridge-builder nodded in resignation. "And since, as I said earlier, Wave's economy's hit bottom, you can imagine why this was set as a C-rank."

A mute emphatic silence took hold for a few minutes, before Kakashi spoke. "So, at best, this mission would've been ranked a B-class."

"Are we going to go back to the village, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura called hopefully. "We can readjust the mission rank... do _something,_ at least, back at Konoha."

"No." Naruto interrupted cleanly. "Tazuna-san wouldn't be able to afford the costs of a B-rank. His only chance is staying on this mission."

"Hn."

"But... Naruto!" Sakura called, aghast. "Didn't you just hear Kakashi-sensei? This mission could kill us, and if Gato learns that the Demon Brothers didn't succeed in killing Tazuna, don't you think that he'll start sending nin _higher_ than Chuunin-level?"

Naruto glanced sharply at the kunoichi. "Don't place the life of others at less value than your own, Sakura." He replied smoothly. "You're a ninja now, aren't you? Your life is now strictly dedicated to your missions. Or, at least, that's what Jiji told me." Naruto shrugged. "Nonetheless, I'd like to stay."

"Hn." The Uchiha gave a barely perceptible nod of agreement to clarify his one-worded response.

"You don't have to stay." Tazuna comforted the kunoichi. "But, of course, when I die," he mused, " I hope you don't mind if my nephew swears vengeance on Konoha. And my daughter hates all Konoha-nin until she dies! And, of course, you won't be to blame if Wave falls to Gato because you Konoha-nin couldn't be bothered to help us! It's only natural! What the hell! It's not your fault!"

"I..." Sakura squirmed under the pressure. "No.... No, it's alright, Tazuna-san. I-I'll stay, too."

"Seems like we're all staying." Kakashi noted.

"Consider yourself lucky, Tazuna-san." Naruto advised.

"I do." Tazuna reassured him as they headed to their destination once more._ .: After all, I won. :._

.x. .x. .x. .x.

"I spy... a tree! A big one! With leaves on it!"

"Oh, shut up, Naruto! There's a whole bunch of trees with leaves here! Now quit messing around!"

"B-But I'm testing my observational skills as a ninja, Sakura!" Naruto protested. "Surely, you can't deny me that right! What if we get attacked and I die because I hadn't honed my skills at observation?"

"I... Well, fine, but -"

"I'm glad to see that we've come to an agreement." Naruto intoned, before turning away. "I spy the sky!"

To be frank, Naruto was bored. But it was a tidbit of information he would never share with Sakura, even under pain of death. His impending demise, he had realized, would come shortly after. And thus, he had brought up the childish game known by all Academy students as a favorite past-time, though by now, it was quickly growing old. And thus, it had a double impact: It relieved Naruto of his boredom and, if he was correct from his inspections, it was annoying the others.

"...Everyone sees the sky, idiot."

"Fine." Naruto huffed. "I spy a scarecrow!"

"Ha ha. Very amusing, Naruto." Kakashi inserted dryly before ambling on.

"Sensei's right, you know." Sakura huffed. "Can't you be serious for once?"

"I am!" Naruto protested. "I -_Oooh!_ Look! I spy a winter rabbit!"

"A _what_?" Sakura called angrily. "You idiot! It's the middle of spring! It's probably just a regular brown rabbit, so quit joking around!"

"No, really, Sakura! It has white fur, and everyone knows that white rabbits are winter rabbits!"

"I'm... Wait a minute." Sakura's eyes narrowed at the innocent creature on the road. "I think you're right."

"Aha! I told you! I kn-"

"Shut up for a minute, Naruto!" Sakura barked.

"Hn."

"But, I-"

"Odd." Sakura stepped tentatively towards the rabbit, in an attempt to not frighten the creature off. Her eyes softened. "I never saw such a pure white on rabbits in the spri -"

She never got to complete her sentence as the fatal sound of a weapon cleaving through air at breakneck speed hummed quietly in their ears, if only briefly.

Kakashi was the first to act. "Everyone, duck!"

Not surprisingly, everyone complied with the order.

Naruto felt the brittle edge of the blade cut across the air as he ducked beneath. A surprisingly strong gust of air swirled above him.

Rising at last, Naruto smiled absently at the opponent.

Kakashi, also having straightened up, narrowed his eyes. "Zabuza Momoichi, from the Hidden Mist."

"Hatake Kakashi of the Sharingan." The figure returned. "It's no wonder the Demon Brothers failed against you."

From the corner of his peripheral vision, Naruto noticed the Uchiha reflexively dislodge a kunai. Apparently, Kakashi noticed it as well, since he turned his attention from the enemy-nin for, if only, a milisecond.

"Don't bother, Sasuke." His voice strained to retain a casual demeanor. "He's on a complete different level than the Brothers. You wouldn't stand a chance. Even to me, he's a formidable opponent." As he spoke, he reached for his headband, pulling it up from his left eye.

If looking by vaguely, Naruto mused, you could almost say that Kakashi's left eye was normal - that you didn't know why he kept it hidden.

Until, at least, you saw the dangerous swirl of red that substitued the normal black of his pupil.

"Revealing the Sharingan so early?" Zabuza's voice, though muffled as it was by the cloth covering his mouth, loomed eerily in the utter silence. "I'm honored."

"Sharingan?" Sakura's startled voice broke in. "Isn't that - "

"One of the greatest dojutsus to ever exist, according to Jiji's library?" Naruto cut in. "Yeah... Think so, anyways."

Zabuza nodded in mute affirmation. "When I remained a member of the Hidden Mist's ANBU, I kept a Bingo Book. Surprisingly, they kept an entry on you. The man who's copied over a thousand jutsu, Copy-Nin Kakashi." A pause ensued before he added, "It appears as I'll have to kill you, to kill the bridge-builder you're protecting."

The figure stepped off the tree, making use of the forestry to allow a leap from the tree to the waters nearby.

"Ninpou." Zabuza stood above the rippling waters as he spoke. "Hidden Mist jutsu."

"He's gone!" Sakura's voice, nearly a shriek, called, as she made the observation. A single leaf balanced delicately in the space in which the nin had stood in the waters.

"Don't worry. He'll come after me first." Kakashi's voice called, sounding oddly as if attempting to soothe the kunoichi with the ominious words. "But still, be careful."

The Genin stiffened as the mist thickened while their mutual teacher spoke.

_"8 choices."_ Zazuba's voice echoed ominously in the silence. _"The liver, the lungs, the spine, the clavial vein... Neck vein, brains, kidneys, the heart. Which one should I go after?"_

_.: What incredible killing intent. It feels almost as if making a single move will kill me. :._ Uchiha Sasuke had seldom felt so petrified by the presence of a person alone, but admittedly, this occasion made another moment in his life in which his life had felt so feeble, so worthless, compared to the presences before him. _.: I... I'd rather kill myself to end this, the mere prescences... :._

"Sasuke." Kakashi's voice restored normalcy for a fleeting moment as the Uchiha's haunted eyes looked back over at him. "Don't worry. I'll continue protecting you, even if it kills me." The man's eyes curved to inverted U-shapes. "I won't let my comrades die."

_.: We'll see about that. :._ Zabuza flickered into solid particles between the Genins and the bridge-builder. His eyes rolled up lazily, if maliciously. "It's over."

Before a word in edgewise could get in, Kakashi flickered, equally swift to the missing-nin, stalling the blade long enough to force a kunai between the nin's shoulderblades.

The nin exploded into water, and another design of the figure appeared behind the Konoha-nin, cleaving the nin in half, who, simultaneously, exploded into water in a manner resemblent to the enemy-nin's earlier clone.

"Don't move." Admist the sound of water clashing on water, a new familiar voice intruded. Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza, holding a kunai to the enemy-nin's throat. "It's over."

"It's over?" The nin repeated. "You just don't get it - There's no way you can defeat me with your monkey-like imitations. But still..." The man paused for a moment of reflection. "It was impressive of you. At that time... When you had already copied my Water Clone jutsu and diverted my attention by having me believe that the clone was you, while actually hiding to wait for an opening.... Impressive, but, as I said, it's not so easy to kill me."

The figure splashed into water once more, revealing him to be another water clone, and Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi once more.

Kakashi ducked from the initial blow, only to fall into the waters nearby.

_.: The water seems heavy, almost. :._ The Hatake mused. _.: Almost as if... :._

"Fool." The Mist-nin flashed through a series of handsigns. "Suiro no Jutsu!"

A bubble of water surrounded the Hatake in what appeared to be a makeshift prison composed entirely of water.

"You may have been trying to escape through the water, but it was a miscalculation on your part." Zabuza formed a one-handed seal. "We'll finish things between us later, Kakashi. First, I'll deal with the brats. Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu."

An unassuming blob of water appeared in front of the Genin and the bridge-builder, morphing slowly into a replica of Zabuza in the figure of a water clone.

"You three." The clone chuckled darkly, looming precariously as a blob of morphing water as it approached the Genin. "Wearing forehead protectors and acting like ninja. But a true ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death. In other words, only after you've been listed in the Bingo book are you good enough to be called ninja. Thus, none of you three should be referred to as nin."

The clone disappeared briefly and something retracted with Naruto as he went flying backwards, struck by the nin. His headband, discarded, was left on the ground.

Pain blurred his vision briefly, before his sight rightenened itself, in a manner resembling the rightening of a vision lens.

"Everyone!" Kakashi barked, voice distorted from the water but still clearly recognizable. "Take Tazuna-san and run! As long as I'm trapped in the water prison, Zabuza can't move, and the water clone can only move so far from the original!"

Naruto stood slowly, even as spasms of some substance akin to fear, he'd muse later, shook his frame. Pain flashed in his eyes, but he ignored it all to survey the situation.

They were hopeless. They had lost even though the enemy-nin hadn't brought them down yet. They were children in the field of battle - what did they know?

And yet, there existed that spasm of hope. The childish naiivety that claimed that he was a child, he couldn't die. He'd never wanted this fate... _.: I never wanted to be a shinobi. Shinobi couldn't fly, couldn't walk on water... What was the use? :._ Glancing at his surroundings, he felt an answer distantly ring at his conscious, too far away to be recognizable but close enough to know that it was an answer, despite him being unable to access it as it irked him, drifting along the edges of his consciousness. He settled on a temporary makeshift answer. _.: I never wanted to be one, but I became one. That alone seals my fate. :._

"Sasuke?" Naruto called, keeping his voice otherwise calm, despite the adverse circumstances. "I have a plan."

"Teamwork from you?" Sasuke replied rhetorically.

Naruto laughed hollowly. "Watch and learn."

"Arrogant, aren't you?" Zabuza intervened. "But do you stand a chance?"

"What're you doing?" Kakashi's distorted voice called. "This fight was over the moment I was caught! Did you forget the purpose of your mission? Our duty was to protect Tazuna-san!"

Naruto turned in a moment of reflection. "Would you mind, Tazuna-san," he inquired, "if we left for just a bit? Sakura here can remain as guard."

"This conflict came from my mess, didn't it?" Tazuna returned. "I can't say I care so much for living that I'd stop you now. Fight as much as you want. I won't stop you."

"And there you have it, from the client himself." Naruto called triumphantly.

The water clone laughed lowly. "Never going to learn, are you? Going to keep playing 'ninja'?" The nin slowly drew his hand into a fist. "When I was your age, I'd already had my hands dyed red with blood."

"Don't tell me... Let me guess. We're all about 12... Our age means that you were either an Academy student or Genin..." His eyes narrowed as his deduction concluded. "Wait a minute... The Academy?" He turned sharply up at the missing-nin. "You're the Demon of the Mist?"

"So you've heard about it."

"A while ago, in the Blood Mist village, they used to have this twisted little tradition for graduating Academy students, right?" Naruto turned to Zabuza for confirmation.

"They did, though 'twisted' is an exaggeration."

"Graduation Exam?" Sakura repeated, confused. "What is it?"

"The Hidden Mist used to pit Academy nin against each other in fights to the death." Zabuza clarified. "Friends who've trained and eaten at the same table were pitted against each other to fight until one of them lost their lives. Friends who've exchanged and shared dreams were forced to kill their companions. Until, at least, one of the pair died."

"Of course, ten years ago, the Hidden Mist's graduation exam was forced to change." Kakashi countered. "The year after a devil appeared."

"Devil?" Sakura asked. "What did this devil do?"

"A small witless wonder of a squalling brainless child without any shinobi training and conditioning came up and killed all the graduating children. It's said that the grounds of the Academy are still stained with blood from that incident." Naruto shook his head in wonderment. "That witless wonder... I should've known. It must've been you, Zabuza Momoichi."

"It was fun, killing the brats." Zabuza remarked. "One of my most memorable moments, wasn't it?"

_.: If we're not shinobi, then what are we, Zabuza-san, since you've had so much more experience than us in these arts? :._ Naruto paused for a moment to recollect his thoughts from his brief thoughts. _.: In between the cross of shinobi and civilians, perhaps? :._

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura's voice broke his stream of thought, and Naruto observed Sasuke coughing up blood as the Mist-nin kept him pinned underneath his foot.

Naruto crossed his hands in a hand-sign now familiar to him, instinctively, at the sight of peril. _.: I was hoping to keep this in storage, but there's no use. :._ Chakra surged up within him, to finalize the ninjutsu. _.: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! :._

Tendrils of smoke wisped around him as clones in the replica of himself formed around him. Appearing by the dozens, they finalized themselves to be in the quantity, if counted dutifully, of thirty.

At an unseen signal from an invisible angle, the clones all turned to charge at the Mist-nin.

.x. .x. .x. .x.

Sasuke stood, maintaining his position as he held the opened Fuma Shuriken in hand. "Kage Fusha!"_ .: Kage Shuriken no Jutsu! :._

"Shiruken won't work against me." Zabuza drawled lazily, observing the shiruken as it swerved away from the water clone. "Though you have the sense to aim it at the 'real' me."

Naruto stilled. He'd transported the shiruken in which a clone of himself was Henged to, to Sasuke via Kage Bunshin. And then, the rest was up to the Uchiha, wasn't it?

"But it isn't enough to beat me." Zabuza finished as he leapt into the air to avoid the shiruken and deftly taking the weapon in his free hand.

Visible now was a second Fuma Shiruken behind the first Fuma Shiruken, swiveling the avoid the water clone and headed towards the 'real' Zabuza as well.

"A second shiruken in the first one's shadow?" Zabuza called. A new note of surprise lit up his voice, even as he leapt to avoid the shiruken. "Sorry, but it's still not good enough."

But even as the nin had leapt to avoid the second Fuma Shiruken, the second burst into a cloud of smoke, morphing into Naruto once more as the Henge dropped.

Pivoting in midair, Naruto threw a kunai at the Mist nin.

Zabuza barely avoided it, not avoiding at all, really, as a thin line of blood drew itself below his eyes from a cut issued by the kunai.

A moment of pause took hold, and then Naruto, still turned towards the waters and yet not falling quite yet through its depths, smiled serenely and burst into a cloud of smoke.

A mere Kage Bunshin. A Kage Bunshin from a _Genin. _A Genin's Bunshin had been all it took to draw first blood on the Demon of the Mist, the feared Mist-nin turned rogue.

A vein throbbed on Zabuza's forehead.

Back with Sakura and Sasuke, the real Naruto grinned.

.x. .x. .x. .x.

Water splashed from the lake in torrents, startling the Genin and bridge-builder in their utter unexpectancy and ferocity.

The fight between the Jounin had resumed after the brief interruption, and the two were now exhibiting abilities that Naruto had never known could be construed before.

Naruto blinked as another surge of water propelled Zabuza from the waters, throwing him against a tree and pinning him with kunai against the bark.

"It's over." Kakashi called from his perch atop one of the tree's branches.

"How?" Zabuza gazed into Kakashi's unrelenting stare, fearful for once. "Can you... see the future?"

"Yeah." The Jounin dislodged a kunai in retiliation. "You're going to die."

Before he could throw the kunai or make any movements to confirm his words, two senbon needles embedded themselves in the nin's neck. Blood spurted from the wounds.

A masked nin flashed towards them, positioned on a tree branch, a symbolic red swirl on his mask. A moment of silence took place briefly before he spoke. "It appears you were right." He noted. Amusement flashed in the deadened voice. "He's dead."

Kakashi stepped towards the supposed corpse, feeling for a pulse and noting the inattentive lack of a heartbeat. Dead, just as the masked nin had claimed.

"Thank you. " The masked nin continued. "I've been searching for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time."

"That mask." Kakashi noted. "You're a Hunter-nin of the Mist."

The figure paused in a moment of deliberation. "Correct."

"Hunter-nin?" Sakura repeated.

"Yes." The nin confirmed. "My duty is to hunt down missing-nin. I am a member of the Mist's Hunter-nin teams." The masked nin flashed towards the corpse.

Faced with a mute audience, the Hunter-nin paused before continuing. "Your battle is over. I must dispose of the body now." The nin performed a one-handed seal. "Farewell."

He disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"What was that, sensei?" Sakura inquired, turning on the Jounin. "That ninja..."

"Took away Zabuza's corpse, as he designed to do." Naruto replied. "All Hunter-nin are supposed to do that. Kakashi-sensei'll explain it later. I dunno if I feel like it." He shrugged.

"Now," Kakashi called conversationally as he lowered his headband to cover his left eye once more. "We have to get Tazuna-san back home. Let's go."

"Hahahaha!" Tazuna laughed awkwardly. "Super thanks, guys! When we get to my place, you can relax for a while."

"Alri -" Sakura's reply was broken by the sound of a heavy object falling. "...Sensei?"

"What's wrong, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto inquired, as he watched the man fall. "...Kakahi-sensei?"

_.: I've used the Sharingan too much. My body... won't move. :._ Kakashi reflected briefly, before calming his worries: The rest of the team would be able to understand the situation and take proper measures, wouldn't they? After all, they were ninja, if only at Genin-rank.

"Guys! I think sensei's been poisoned!" Sakura exclaimed. "Zabuza must've gotten him earlier in the fight! Sensei? Sensei, can you hear me?"

"Sakura?" Naruto called weakly. "I think it's just chakra exhaustion..."

"Shut up, Naruto! This is _my_ field of experience! He's been poisoned!" Sakura snapped viciously, quickly destroying the last of Kakashi's hopes for immediate transporation. "Sasuke-kun! Get some herbs!"

_.: Well... They'll take proper measures in the end, anyways. :._ Kakashi thought comfortingly, as he tried to make as much use of the solid ground as he could for comfort.

Obviously, this would take a while.

.x. .x. .x. .x.

"Are you alright?" Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, spoke. A frown marred her features as she spoke to Kakashi.

They had eventually made their way back to Tazuna's home, due to Naruto's persistant whining that going to Tazuna's place was the best course of action to take. And now, the able members of the group stood as Kakashi remained on the floor, bedridden.

"Yeah." Kakashi confirmed. "Though I won't be able to move for a week or so."

"The Sharingan's incredible, but it takes too much out of a person." Sakura mused from Kakashi's side. "It's something you don't want to use too often."

"And it's something that _you_ ought to look up a bit more thoroughly." Naruto muttered bitterly under his breath. "Of all the ridiculous... You spent an entire hour trying to force herbs down his throat and _now_ that the actual cause is known, you're -"

"Well, considering how we defeated a nin that was that strong," Tazuna called, cleanly interrupting Naruto. It'd be best if Sakura didn't hear the blond kid's musing, right? "We should be safe for awhile!"

"Speaking of which... Who was that masked kid, sensei?" Sakura inquired.

"That mask is worn by the Hidden Mist's Hunter-nin teams." Kakashi explained. "They're also known as body-erasers, since their duty is to dispose of shinobi bodies without a trace."

"Because the bodies of shinobi contain secrets of the village's ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, along with other such classified information." Naruto elaborated. "For example, Sakura, if I die, the secret of awesome blond hair origins can get out."

"That's not quite the example I was looking for, but Naruto's right. A ninja's body can reveal information information that should remain confidental. So by killing and disposing of missing-nin, the Hunter-nin protect the village's secrets." Kakashi concluded. "No sound, no smell... That's the offical end of a ninja."

.x. .x. .x. .x.

"You're alive now, but will you be alright?" The Hunter-nin's voice called. Worry was etched into his voice. "You only just survived."

"Next time, Haku," Zabuza's voice, clearly discernable in the silence, promised, "I'll defeat the Sharingan."

Silence ensued, as the masked nin, now clearly in league with Zabuza, nodded sharply and set off once more.

Sunlight streamed through the thick foilage overhead, clearing their visages and their identities to both be exactly as their voices discerned them to be.

.x. .x. .x. .x.

"We have a complication." Kakashi called cheerfully. "Can anyone guess what it is?"

Naruto stared disinterestedly at the team's mutual teacher. "Just spill it, Kakashi-sensei."

"No one wants to take a guess?" Kakashi called hopefully. "Pity."

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm going to hurt you if you don't spill it." Naruto smiled disarmingly. "So what is it? This complication of yours."

Kakashi, astonishingly, decided to fold. "Hunter-nin usually dispose of the bodies of their victims where they're found, as I'm sure that you're already aware, Naruto."

"So what?" Sakura said dismissively.

"How did that masked nin dispose of Zabuza's body, Sakura?"

"How do we know? The masked guy took the body with him."

"If he needed proof of killing Zabuza, he could've just taken the head." Kakashi returned. "And the weapon of choice used... We've missed something important."

"Do you mean..." Naruto began slowly.

"Yeah." Kakashi cut him off. "It's probable that Zabuza's still alive."

The resemblence that the other Genin and bridge-builder bore to a gaping fish in that moment was astounding.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura shouted, nearly upsetting the table. "You checked and said he was dead, didn't you?"

"Yes." Kakashi allowed. "But it's probable that it was a momentary death. The needles that the Hunter-nin used have a low probability in killing your opponent, unless they hit a vital spot. It's an item used by doctors in acupuncture therapy. Hunter-nin have an extensive knowledge on the human body. It'd be more than simple for them to put someone in a death trance. These points lead to the possibility that the nin's goal was not to kill Zabuza, but to save him."

"Aren't you thinking over this too much?" Tazuna called. "After all, Hunter-nin are supposed to dispose of ninja corpses, from what you say."

"No. With all this suspicision surrounding Zabuza's death, we'll have to prepare for the possibility before it's too late." Kakashi replied. "And even if Zabuza was dead, there's no assurances that Gato wouldn't have hired an even stronger shinobi."

"Sensei?" Sakura questioned. "What do you mean 'prepare for the possibility before it's too late'? You can barely move."

"I meant you three." Kakashi said in answer. "You three will have to receive training."

"Training? _Training_?" Sakura repeated incredulously. "_Seriously?_ So we can fight against a ninja that even you were struggling against?"

"And it was you three that helped me, wasn't it?" Kakashi called rhetorically. "Relax. It's just training until I get better. It's not like I'm going to send you to fight Zabuza all by yourselves."

"But, sensei? If Zabuza's alive, why should we train if he could choose any time of his leisure to attack us?" Sakura asked. "I mean... What if we were exhausted after training and Zabuza decided to attack us? It'd be the perfect opportunity for an attack by the enemy!"

"Nah." Naruto waved her off. "Death trances aren't easy to recover from you know. We have about a week, minimun, of training with the knowledge that Zabuza won't jump up and attack us."

"Naruto's right." Kakashi nodded in agreement. "We should be fine when training."

"It's useless." A new voice intruded into their conversastion. A boy with dark mellow eyes peered up at them from under onyx bangs of hair. The eyes turned resolutely towards Tazuna. "Welcome back, grandfather." He added cordially.

"Inari, say hello to these people." Tsunami instructed. "They're ninjas who've protected Grandpa on his way here."

Dark eyes stare dispassionately at the four. "But, mom... They're going to die." He complained. "There's no way that they can win against Gato."

"Oi." Naruto cautioned. "You make it sound as if you don't believe in a better future and heros and all that crap."

"What are you, stupid?" Inari replied testily. "There's no such things as 'heros.' If you don't wanna die, you should leave." The boy turned away, apparently wearied of the conversation.

"Where are you going, Inari?" Tazuna inquired as the boy made for the door.

"To look at the ocean from my room." Inari replied before leaving and closing the doors with a loud and resolute snap.

"Should I go talk to the kid a bit?" Naruto inquired. "He sounds upset."

"Yeah, sure." Sakura allowed. "He sounds pretty sad about something, Naruto. He probably needs it."

Naruto nodded resignedly, before making for the door and heading up the staircases after the child.

As he went to knock on the door, though, a distinct sound, muffled by the walls, emitted from the room. Soft broken sounds echoed in the hallway, accompanied by a brief stutter that never quite completed to form into a full word - a twisted parody of a sudden inability to speak, if only briefly.

_.: Crying? :._ Naruto recognized the sobs after a brief moment of recollection. The thought sobered him of even the idea of reaching a hand out to aid the child. _.: He's not ready to talk, then. :._ He decided and trudged downstairs.

"Naruto?" Sakura's startled voice called out as she noticed his figure returning. "What happened?"

"He was crying." Naruto muttered. "Up in his room. I don't reckon he feels much like talking."

A moment of compassion took flight, and the room descended into silence.

.x. .x. .x. .x.

"Alright!" Kakashi's voice cut briskly across the silence of the forestry. "We'll be starting your training now. I trust that you all know what chakra is?"

"The physically and spiritual energy gathered usually by practical methods, including practice and age." Naruto replied. "What about it?"

"Despite how well-versed you are in the textbook definition of chakra, none of you are using chakra efficently." Kakashi stated. "Even if you release a high amount of chakra to perform a jutsu, it'll often go haywire or not work at all if you exhibit no control over your chakra. And thus, you'll lose a lot of chakra and won't be able to fight as long."

"Then what're we expected to do, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto questioned. "Sit back and let other shinobi take care of business for you? I'd rather not, since that sounds cruel and unsportsmanship-like..."

"You learn to control it." Kakashi replied sharply.

"And how are we going to do that, sensei?" Sakura inquired skeptically.

"Tree climbing."

"Tree-climbing?! What kind of training is that? We already learned to climb trees in the Academy!"

"I don't mean normal tree climbing." Kakashi returned. "I meant climbing trees without your hands."

"And how're we expected to do that, sensei?"

"Watch." Kakashi replied, before setting his crutches in a manner so that they were held in place firmly as he took a step up the tree. That step which was accompanied by another step. And another. And another. Until he was hanging upside-down from a tree branch to face the Genin.

"Do you understand now?" Kakashi asked. "This is something you'll be able to do once your chakra control gets better."

"Sensei? How's this supposed to help us improve as ninja?"

"First, it's supposed to teach you to control your chakra. Extending your chakra to your feet is, perhaps, one of the most difficult aspects of chakra control. Theorically, if you manage this excersize, you could attempt to perform any jutsu in existance that's open to the shinobi populance and not requiring any particularities in your heritage, anyways."

Three kunais appeared in front of each Genin.

"Use the kunais to mark how high you get up the tree," Kakashi elaborated. "Then use the mark as a goal and try to surpass that. You probably won't be able to get very high up at first, so try to get some momumentum." The Jounin paused for a moment before continuing. "Pick a tree and start climbing. Now go."

THe three dispersed at once.

.x. .x. .x. .x.

"Tazuna? Why do you have a torn picture up on the wall?" Sakura gestured at the framed picture. "Inari-kun was staring at it all during dinner. And it seems almost as if it was torn intentionally..."

The group was back at Tazuna's after the training session had finished with Sakura the sole person who was able to climb the trees efficently. Night was falling, if the slight discreptancies in the sky were anything to go by as the occupants of the household stopped to eat.

"It's my husband." Tsunami replied, staring wistfully out of the window as she spoke.

"He was called the 'hero' of the city." Tazuna reflected.

Silverware clattered to the floor. Inari stood up, stepping away from the table, excusing himself. "I'm not hungry." He stood up, padding away to his room again.

"Inari!" The boy had left already, closing the doors behind him with an audible click. Frustrated of that solution, Tsunami whirled on Tazuna. "Father! I've told you to not mention that man in front of Inari!" She turned and followed after the child, in attempt to console him.

"What's wrong with Inari?" Sakura inquired after a moment of hesitant pause. "And that picture..."

Tazuna sighed, eyes taking on a melancholic dimness. Resigned, he spoke. "Let me explain to you about Inari's father..."

Naruto listened intently, cerulean eyes slitted in confused understanding.

Unnoticed by all save himself - For a second time, Naruto's eyes darkened to a melancholic blue.

Not long after, rain, irregularly and drizzylingly, beat a soft pattern into the wooden roof above.

* * *

I know the ending's a bit improptu but I didn't have anything else to add.

Originally, I was all set for putting in the Kekkei Genkai revelation in this chapter, but then I'd have had to shorten a number of significant landmarks in the story and the chapter would be even more ridiculously long than it already is. I'd rather keep the characters IC and the foundation intricately set instead of hurrying the whole thing and putting in the Kekkei Genkai in the very beginning of the story. It'd be a lot less organized if I did that, wouldnt it? ;D

But now you have an inkling as for Naruto's bloodline's abilities. Though weather won't exactly be the only element manipulated by the bloodline... D:

Nevertheless, everything'll come clear later. :D Just be patient with me.

_Pairing Possibilities:_

Shikamaru x Naruto

Naruto x Kakashi

Naruto x Ino

Naruto x Kyuubi

Naruto x Temari

Due to popular request, _Naruto x Hinata_ and _Sasuke x Sakura_ won't be applied. I suppose there's enough of those fics, though, out there. After all, they're two of the most popular pairings for the Naruto Universe, aren't they? :D

I've excluded _harem_, because personally, I've never seen Naruto as much of a player before. Even though this is probably contrary to many's beliefs, I'd rather write to what I'm more accustomed to, so that the awkwardness doesn't ruin the story.

I've also removed_ Naruto x Hana Inuzuka_ because I've never really known Hana as a character, and thus, I wouldn't be able to develop her. D: I'm sorry!

As for now, I'm leaving pairings up to you via vote. Other pairings - such as side-pairings - are welcome too, you know! XD

Leave a review and have a nice day~! :D


	3. The Awakening of Realities

My various comments to reviewers whom posed questions and phrases that I feel obligated to answer:

BabyVee: I'm glad you like the story! :D Actually, I was hoping that the impression that Naruto constantly referred to Zabuza as a 'witless wonder' and 'squalling brainless child' would prove that he was contempuous, even, of Zabuza's actions then. This chapter's really going to hedge on that belief that a shinobi shouldn't place his life above another's, actually, and I hope that it doesn't disappoint. :D

Senyor Fier Mensheir: I do know that it's Konohagaku no Sato. But it's a rather formal and offical term to call the village by, so I was hoping to use that term only when the situation called for it, and to use just 'Konoha' and 'Konohagaku' in different varying situations.... D: That's not a bad thing, I hope.

Nikoli Fenix: I didn't really get your comment on my incorporating of Japanese terms... Did I state it wrong? D: ... On the other hand, about the pairings, you may be right that the others would be unlikely. That is, unless, I get my hands on them. You'd be amazed at what character development - while keeping the character IC - can do, actually. :D

LOL. Everyone seems to have the mistaken idea that weather-control is all that Naruto's Kekkei Genkai controls. It's certainly the easiest to control, I'll give away that much, which is why it appears faintly when the Kekkei Genkai is going through its awakening phases, but that's not quite all that the bloodline can manipulate. :D

The beginning in italics is the meeting between Haku and Naruto, for all curious. Go on and read it! :D

Dialogue Interpretations:

"Character Speech"

_.:Character Thoughts:._

**.:. Demonic Speech.:.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto - nyaaaaaaa! XD

* * *

_The soft hazy lights of morning cut gently across the various surrounding forestry. The morning light, dappled by the nearby foliage, cast a feeble - but visible - light on the dew-endowed grass. Sparrows fluttered from nearby trees, flustered and with ruffled feathers - tentatively chirping a greeting to the wakening world about them._

_A figure, darkly silhouetted against the frames of nearby trees, stepped up - a basket curiously at hand - to a blond child sleeping fitfully on the ground of the forest._

_A hand reached for the child's throat, before relenting, fingers crumbling backwards, eyes softening - simply shaking the slumbering figure awake with a tentative hand._

_"Get up." A surprisingly feminine voice emitted from the standing figure. "You'll catch cold sleeping here."_

_"'Mmm?" Naruto blinked blearily as the figure came into perception in his vision. "Who are you?"_

_"No one of importance." He shrugged._

_"Well that really comforts me. You might as well be a missing-nin for all I know." Naruto snapped, sitting up now. He looked up. "What're you doing here anyways?"_

_"I'm searching for herbs." The figure stated, before elaborating. "A friend of mine is injured." He paused before turning his eyes critically towards the blond. "And you? What're you doing here?"_

_"I stepped outside for some air last night," Naruto replied apathetically. "And I ended up falling asleep here." He changed the subject quickly, selecting a plant from the various weeds on the forest floor as he spoke. "You said you needed herbs, right?" He proffered the selected plant. "This is basil. A rather potent herb. Do you need it?"_

_"Yes. Thank you." He took the plant from him gently, placing it in his basket, before looking up briefly at the blond. "That forehead protector... So you're a ninja? From Leaf, I imagine?"_

_"You could say that. I have my forehead protector and everything, so yes. I am." Naruto mused quietly. "And you? You recognized my forehead protector and recognized what village I've sworn allegiance to by the symbol engraved on my forehead protector... Are you a shinobi, then?"_

_The figure stifled a laugh. "No, I'm not. I've done some study on shinobi, but not enough to become one. High mortality rates aren't something that really excites me."_

_"Only too true." Naruto agreed. "But Jiji always says that being a shinobi has its benefits." He gently dropped an Arnica herb into the basket of herbs as he spoke._

_"Benefits?" The figure turned away absently. "Like what, shinobi-san?"_

_"Dunno." Naruto shrugged. "I think protecting people is kinda worth it, though."_

_"Like protecting your loved ones?" The figure inquired before elaborating at his baffled look. "After all, it's only when we have loved ones to protect that we are truly powerful."_

_"...I don't know what you mean." Naruto admitted sheepishly. "I meant just people... Clients and stuff."_

_His eyes had softened. "You don't have any loved ones?" He inquired._

_"Not exactly, no." Naruto conceded. "And having them isn't really a great idea, I mean... You wouldn't know, but I have an ambition which would discourage such relationships." He smiled apologetically at the other._

_"Perhaps you could gain them." The figure offered, sympathetically, it appeared. "Before you gain your ambition."_

_"But it'd be cruel, should I leave for my ambition." Naruto pointed out. "It'd better to not hurt people I'd otherwise befriend." __Naruto straightened up, blinking away the last residues of sleep from his eyes. "It's morning, isn't it?" He peered up at the bright sky. "I should leave now. Before my team gets here, anyways." He hesitated for a moment. "It was nice meeting you, nonetheless."_

_"The feeling's mutual."_

_Naruto hesitated, before tentatively offering, "Maybe we can meet again some other time?"_

_The figure's eyes darkened for some unnameable reason. "I imagine so."_

_"Then, for now - " Naruto smiled. " - Goodbye."_

_The sun drifted under the cover of heavily condensed clouds._

* * *

.x. Chapter III .x.

.x. The Awakening of Realities .x.

* * *

"All of you have finished tree climbing?" A note of surprise lit up the Jounin's voice. "In two days, no less?"

"Well, considering how we're all here at the moment - I'd say that we all have." Naruto remarked dryly. "Actually, I'm rather surprised you thought we'd take any longer. To be honest, tree-climbing's not all as cracked up as you made it out to be, Kakashi-sensei."

"Naruto's right, sensei." Sakura stated. "Tree-climbing's really easy. Couldn't you have taught us something more... useful, maybe?"

"I can't teach you anything useful without teaching you the basics now, can I?" Kakashi returned. "I suppose, though, now that I've taught you the basics, It is possible for me to teach you water walking now..."

Naruto visibly perked up. "Yes?"

"But, unfortunately, Tazuna still needs our protection." Kakashi concluded. "All three of you will have to guard Tazuna at the bridge. Understood?"

Naruto's shoulders sagged. "I hate you."

"Why so, Naruto?"

"You won't let us learn water-walking when we're about to face Zabuza and Gato and all of his little minions, when water-walking can be a huge asset to us since this is a country surrounded by water, hence the name 'Wave'." Naruto dead-panned. "Do I really need to elaborate?"

"Gato?" The dark-haired child, Inari, peered up at them from under his wide-brimmed hat. Disinterested black eyes stared up at them in contempt as he intervened on their conversation. "Do you still think that you can win against him?"

Naruto frowned. "Well, yeah. I do. Why? Does the possibility of Gato dying wound you so?"

"You can't beat him." The child stated flatly. "He'll kill you."

"Thanks for the heads-up." Naruto said dryly. "I'll try my best then, alright?"

"He'll beat you, no matter how hard you try." Inari replied. Dark eyes glanced up at the blond shinobi. "No one can beat Gato."

"Well, this is kind of my job." Naruto shrugged. "I'm getting paid for doing this, and it's really my life, kid - not yours." He paused before adding thoughtfully, "Thanks for caring, though."

The child's voice shook with incredulosity. "Why are you even trying? There's no way Gato will be killed. So then why don't you just leave?!"

"Again, this is my job." Naruto pointed out. "And I hope you don't take this offensively, but I don't really think I'll die. Think of all the heroes out there, kid. Can't they save Wave, then, if I can't?" He shrugged. "Just pray for a miracle, or whatever you believe in, anyways. I won't take it personally."

"Heroes don't exist." Inari replied quietly. "And even if they did, they wouldn't be able to beat Gato."

"We can. If you think about it stragetically, at least." Naruto returned. "We've fought against Zabuza and won, didn't we? Well, you weren't there to see us win, actually... but we did, anyways. And considering Zabuza's status as a missing-nin and his current rank in the Bingo books, he's probably the most that Gato can afford at the moment, since he's part of the elite." Naruto yawned. "If we can beat the elite, then why not Gato?"

A moment of silence took flight, and then the boy's eyes hardened into diamond slivers of ice. His hands clenched into fists.

"Gato's going to slaughter you," he finally said quietly. Turning sharply, he left the room.

The door slammed behind him.

~.~.~

The night was still - despite the gentled sound of crashing waves in the sea, soothed by the presence of night. The moon lingered under the cover of clouds, far into the sky.

Inari sat on the wooden extension of the house - the outdoors carpeted with wood, in which ships had occasionally come to dock in times of emergency. Dark eyes clouded over in frustration as he glanced down at the sea - such tranquility in which had no place in Wave, a place which had long since succumbed to damnation.

"Can I sit here?" A voice distracted Inari from his thoughts. Turning, he discovered that it was the silver-haired Jounin, one of the various ninja that his grandfather had hired in a futile attempt at safety.

Black eyes glanced over the man before turning away. "If you want."

The wood underneath them creaked as the second figure sank down as well.

For a moment, there was a brief silence.

"Tazuna-san told us about your father." Kakashi began. Inari noticeably stiffened, but said nothing. Kakashi pressed on. "Naruto grew up as you did, without a father. He's never known either of his parents, actually."

"So?" Inari finally managed, continuing on his charade of defiance. "I don't care about him."

"But he cares about you." Kakashi returned. "He hasn't had any family or friends, for that matter. In some ways, his life was worse than yours, even. But he cares, doesn't he?"

"I don't believe you." Inari said flatly. "He can't - He's never - I've never seen him complain. You're lying. His life can't have been bad... He never acts like it... ever." The boy finished bitterly.

"Well, he's not exactly the most hyperactive person out there either, is he?" The Jounin sighed. "I believe that he's learned to make the best of what he has, no matter how little that is. He doesn't want the sympathy of others, or even himself. He'd rather make up his reputation from scratch if that's the only alternative."

Inari remained silent, adrift in melancholic thoughts once more.

"He still cares for you, you know." Kakashi concluded. "Otherwise, he'd never have heard out what you were saying earlier this morning, wouldn't he?"

Silence reigned.

Unknownst to both of them, far above them - on the rain-slicked roof of the house, Naruto rested, head poised to the stars to watch the skies above. His eyes narrowed at the quiet exchange below.

~.~.~

_The skies were a majestic black - encircled with faint tendrils of clouds._

_The moon was poised above the drifting gauze of clouds - The moon a terrible yellow-white, placed above everything - and the stars - the faint stars in the sky - in the distance -_

_Clouds - the clouds in which tomorrow and yesterday existed - framed the skies perfectly - a vivid hue of gray shadowed with an artist's brush. Soft wisps of the substance obscured the stars -_

_And the velvet darkness..._

"Wake up, Naruto!" A voice broke across his conscious. "We're going to be late!"

His dream flickered out of existence.

Naruto stirred in bed. He glanced up at the offending figure in front of him. "Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"What did you mean by 'we'll be late'? Do we have to go somewhere?" Naruto straightened up - leaning against the wall now. He blinked.

Sakura sighed. "We have to go guard Tazuna at the bridge, remember?"

Naruto stared at her blankly. "...You woke me up for that? With absolutely no consideration as for the stragetic points of letting me sleep?"

"Well, we're going to be late if you take any longer!" Sakura fumed. "Tazuna's waiting, you know."

"Then let him wait." Naruto replied dryly. "I want to sleep."

"Tazuna's our _client_, Naruto - "

"And we're his body-guards." Naruto cut in cleanly. "If we're not well-rested, the safety we can provide Tazuna-san won't be as efficient as if it would be if we were well-rested. I'm sure Tazuna-san places his life at high enough value as to understand that, by taking a few minutes for me to rest, the safety we can provide him will be greater than if I hadn't rested."

"Naruto..."

"Besides," Naruto pulled the covers over his shoulders. "I was having a nice dream."

"What am I supposed to tell sensei?" Sakura demanded. "Do you want me to tell him that you didn't want to get out of bed because you were having a nice _dream_?"

"If you want to ignore all the strategic points I've pointed out to you just now, then fine. It really was a nice dream." Naruto paused. "It's not that I'm placing my life above his, Sakura. I just really believe that I should sleep. I don't know... I honestly think that me sleeping would help the stability of the team."

"Naruto..." Sakura looked at a loss for words.

"Thanks for understanding, Sakura." Naruto smiled warmly at the kunoichi. "I'll be sleeping now."

"Hey, wait! I never said that you could -"

"If Naruto's going to be stubborn about it, then let him sleep." Kakashi intruded on the scene, leaning against the doorway, familiar pornographic novel in hand. "He's probably exhausted from yesterday, when he mastered tree-climbing. Once he recovers, he'll catch up, right, Naruto?"

"Yeah. I will."

"See? Come on, Sakura. Let's go."

"Fine, but I swear that if Naruto doesn't catch up later - " She trailed off, a warning in her voice.

Naruto smiled serenely in reply at the kunoichi as he settled in the blankets to sleep. "I'll catch up." He promised.

Sakura twitched.

~.~.~

Blood streamed in rivulets from the bridge. Fallen workers lay on the metal of the bridge. The rails were drenched in blood.

"W-What happened here?" An astonished whisper broke through the silence.

"What happened?" Tazuna knelt by the side of a man. "Why is everything - "

"A monster." The man rasped, struggling for breath. "...Attacked us." The man's bloodshot eyes rolled backwards.

The mist thickened as he spoke.

~.~.~

Cerulean eyes opened.

The blankets rustled as Naruto stood up, blinking away the bleariness that sleep had lent him. No longer tired, he dressed quickly - wincing at the possibility of the verbal thrashing he'd receive for staying back so late, having his fatigue being put at the top of his priorities, rather than the mission. But he'd been so tired... Unusually so... And it had to be a once in a million chance that an enemy would approach on this day, wasn't it?

And it had been true. Something had utterly compelled him to sleep - whispered gentle promises that it was best. That if he didn't, the team would fall into chaos.

Naruto shook his head from the absurdity of it all.

As he knotted the fabric ends of his headband, he couldn't help but think. _.: Sakura's going to kill me for being this late. :._

The soft sound of furniture colliding mutely with one another from downstairs came to his attention, temporarily distracting him. His eyes narrowed. _.: It can't be... :. _A muted thud destroyed his doubts._ .: An attack? :._

Feeling as if the premonition lent to him from his sleep was upon him now at last, he slipped downstairs.

~.~.~

_.: If there's been an attack at Tazuna's place, it'd only be because Gato would be confident that Tazuna would be too distracted at the bridge to realize what was happening at his home. :._ Cerulean eyes narrowed. _.: Which means that it's possible that Zabuza is back today. :._

He knelt under the branches of a willow. _.: I should hurry, then. :._

After effectively securing Tazuna's household of dangers, and leaving a Kage Bunshin behind to watch over the house - He had begun the slow journey towards the bridge, where his team undoubtedly was.

Chakra surged from the bridge, welling up in amazing amounts. The battle had long since begun.

_.: If something happened on my account, because I wasn't there... :._ The bark underneath his foot split. _.: I'm just going to kill myself. :._ A small hint of mockery soothed him _.: ...That is, of course, assuming that Sakura doesn't decide to tear my head off first. :._

~.~.~

_.: Makyo Hyosho! :._

Ice formed into slates of screen - encompassing both Haku and the Uchiha within a convoluted circle of ice mirrors.

"What is this?" Sasuke's voice was guarded, but a note of fear had lit up the more childish aspects of the young shinobi. "...These mirrors."

"It's the end for you." Haku slipped into a mirror - becoming as transparent as the ice to become one with it, as he answered. "Shall I begin?"

He held up a senbon needle.

Sasuke wasn't sure of when the attack began, exactly.

The only thing that he was aware of was the sudden pain - the sense of something flitting before his eyes...

The air became one with the senbon - piercing the Uchiha at a speed that was unnatural, with a agility that was uncanny.

Pain seared at him - The air itself had turned against him.

_.: He's attacking with senbon needles. :._ The air was littered with the metal substances. _.:And yet... :. _Something was off about the attacks. The cruelty of attacking with senbons could be well-justified. They could bring immense pain if located in the right areas, but then...

A senbon snatched a few strands of his bangs - nearly, but not quite, making contact with the fragile veins in his neck.

_.: They're near misses. :. _A slow cold comprehension began to dawn on the Uchiha. _.: But he's doing it intentionally. He's not aiming for the vital areas. But then... Why would he spare me - the enemy? :._

In that moment, as if in the form of an answer - the senbons stopped in their attack, distracted from their pupose.

The Uchiha looked up slowly, to see the cause of the temporary relief, the distraction.

From the corner of his eyes, he could make out a faint distinguished blur of yellow standing - in stark contrast to the snow - just outside of the icy prison.

~.~.~

_.: I should have gone with the others earlier, instead of sleeping. Honestly... Sleeping? :. _Naruto growled as he leaped through the remainder of the trees, feeling the sticky residues of tree sap cling to his sandals.

A sole thought consoled him._ .: But, nonetheless, I'm at the bridge now. :._

His sandals touched the cold plated metal of the half-completed bridge.

~.~.~

"...Naruto?" The Uchiha's bloodshot eyes narrowed. "Is that... you?"

"That depends on the context in which you define 'you'," Naruto returned. "But yes, I'm Naruto."

Onyx eyes widened. "B-But why - How... did you..." Sasuke spluttered incoherently for words.

"I overslept." Naruto replied cleanly. "And then I warded off an attack back at Tazuna's place." Cerulean eyes narrowed in speculation. "You're not looking too great yourself, Sasuke."

He was right, of course - he seldom wasn't nowadays, no matter how loathe the Uchiha was to agree with him.

After all, Sasuke was littered with little bruises - scrapes along his arms and legs, various cuts and tears in his clothing revealed gashes in his skin.

On the other side of the ice prison, a world apart, Naruto stood - hand raised casually to the rail of the bridge. An icy wind rippled through his hair as he stood, unflinching and untouched from it all.

"Hn." Sasuke inclined his head.

Naruto's lips quirked upwards at the familiar one-worded grunt he'd come to associate with his teammate. "Not feeling too talkative today, are we?" Naruto's hands slipped off the rail. "Don't worry. I've gotten used to it by now." The Uzumaki laughed bitterly.

Footsteps padded towards the prison quickly. Looking up, Sasuke could see that Naruto was approaching him now, setting no store aside for the mirrors which seperated them.

"Naruto?" The Uchiha's facial features bunched up in startled confusion. "What - "

In that moment, in a swift step - the blond shinobi had entered the ice prison.

~.~.~

_.: Sasuke's going to die. :._ His eyes narrowed as the thought came to his head - astonishingly clear, no matter how terrible the words sounded to him.

The Uchiha had knelt on the metal of the bridge. Senbon needles poked out of his skin in various angles, while others had simply left a gash into his skin. His eyes had begun to dim and his figure had long since relaxed.

The warning signs were all there.

The Uchiha was going to die if he didn't intervene.

"Not feeling too talkative today, are you?" Naruto commented, as if talking of the weather. He had always been conmmended for his quick acting skills - his superior abilities to keep adrift in raging waters while others drowned. Now, once more, he put his skills to action - proving once again his superior abilities in these uncharted waters of fear and desperation.

Sasuke didn't reply.

"Don't worry." He felt the acting take over him again as he allowed his hands to slip from the rails of the bridge in a gesture of utter casualness. "I've gotten used to it by now." He allowed a quick bubble of laughter to escape him. The laugh sounded reminiscent, and exceedingly bitter - but it was a laugh, nonetheless. A break from the uninviting silence.

He stepped forward quickly - a step forward with his right foot, than his left, in a pattern of symmetry. Symmetry, he reminded himself, as his muscules relaxed to further complete this charade of casual aloofness.

"Naruto?" Sasuke's neutral expression quickly changed to one of confusion. "What - "

Steeling himself, Naruto took a last step into the ice prison.

The faint odors of blood and metal assaulted him, but he brushed it off carefully, ensuring that outwardly, it appeared as if nothing had been of bother to him.

"I thought you might have wanted some help." Naruto addressed the Uchiha with a small smile. "Am I wrong, Sasuke?"

Onyx eyes narrowed. "Didn't it cross your mind for a second, Naruto, to conduct an attack - one from the outside, and another from the inside - to get rid of the mirrors?"

"It did." Naruto said cleanly. "But then the Hunter-nin can continue to attack you while you're conducting your own attack, and if you collapse from your injuries, there's no point in such an elaborate attack formation. And even if we managed to rid of the mirrors in that way, who's to say that the shattering ice shards from the mirrors won't come back to hit one of us?"

Silence met his response. Encouraged, Naruto continued. "Thus, if we both attack from the inside, there's less likelihood of having a casualty since we're all situated on one side, in the easiest position to control for us. It's really your fault for getting trapped in here." He arched an eyebrow questioningly. "Am I wrong?"

The Uchiha turned away as he emitted his classical response. "Hn."

Naruto cracked a smile. "Ease up, Sasuke." He advised. "You'll live."

"I wouldn't agree on that." Haku's disembodied voice echoed from the mirror left of the two Genin.

"Who knows?" Naruto smiled angelically, a perfect picture of innocence. "Don't you believe in miracles, Hunter-san?"

As if in answer, the senbons began to attack the two enprisoned shinobi within the ice prison.

~.~.~.~

"What did Naruto...?" The voice faded away to an inaudible whisper. Emerald eyes narrowed.

"It appears as if one of your students don't possess the entirety of their senses, Kakashi." Zabuza's lips curled upwards in a cold mocking representative of a smile.

"He's up to something." Kakashi retorted, just as swiftly. "He's not the average Genin." _.: Though that logic could work both for and against Konoha. :._Kakashi reminded himself, berating himself, even as he muttered the last syllables of his words.

A coil of uncertainty curled in his abdomen. Zabuza gave the Jounin an almost bored expression - clearly stating how little he believed Kakashi's statement. The Jounin couldn't blame the missing-nin, no matter how much he'd have had wanted to. Even he - who had mentored the young Genin - found difficulty in believing his own words, after all.

It was difficult to believe that a Genin - a simple Genin - would have had thought of a plan that would outsmart both missing-nins and the Jounin while practically offering himself up to the enemy.

For that was exactly what the blond had done in their eyes, prior the last moment.

When the blond had first arrived - they had all been distracted in their fights. But then the blond, with his arm rested casually against the rails of the bridge, as he chatted amiably to Sasuke, had done nothing of interest. And the fight had soon resumed once more.

...Until the moment in which the blond had stepped - ever so casually - into the ice prison.

Had Kakashi not seen it himself, he never would've believed it. Even so, in that moment, he hadn't been able to believe that it had actually occurred - had believed that it was just the effects of a Genjutsu placed upon him. A Genjutsu gone misshapen and awry. For it was only fools and traitors that could walk into enemy terrain so casually, without what appeared like a second thought...

But this was Naruto, he consoled himself. Naruto, who devised tricks at every turn and corner. Naruto, whom had known the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, which was a jutsu exclusive to Jounin and ANBU shinobi of Konoha. Naruto, whom had aided Kakashi from within the confines of Zabuza's water-prison...

...Was it so implausible that this was just another trick - another act of deception - from the blond?

"You'd be surprised, Zabuza." Kakashi met kunai for kunai, witnessing the sparks of metal glow silver in the air as he twisted away. His eyes curved upwards into inverted Us, no matter now strained the smile was. "He is, after all," he added thoughtfully, to credit Naruto with this last comment. "One of Konoha's most deceptive shinobi."

~.~.~.~

The senbons flit across the air - _.: Like birds of a feather. :._Naruto had mused idly - brushing across the surface of his skin, and thrust carelessly into the ground.

_.: It almost appears as if the Hunter-nin has the ability to turn as transparent as the glass. :._Naruto's eyes narrowed at his observations. _.: Or... It is that he can move within the mirrors, which would certainly explain the presence of the mirrors more conveniently. :._Naruto paused in thought. _.: A Kekkei Genkai, perhaps? :._

The senbons stopped briefly in their attack, allowing the two Genin a brief respite as the Hunter-nin solidified behind one of the mirrors.

"What now, Naruto?" The Uchiha hissed. Fresh scars had slashed themselves on his skin, Naruto noted, but the dimness in the Uchiha's eyes had left him.

"Now, we stragetize." Naruto replied easily.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "And you couldn't have bothered stragetizing when you were out of the mirrors?"

"I could have had." Naruto allowed. "But having a fresh live experience is much more exciting, isn't it?"

"...When at the mercy of death?" Sasuke hissed in reply.

Naruto smiled disarmingly at the Uchiha. "The situation's under control, Sasuke." Naruto reassured him. "Don't worry so much. You'll get wrinkles."

Before the Uchiha could retort, Haku's voice echoed in the confined space. "Do you truly believe that?"

"I dunno. You mean the part about the wrinkles or the part about the situation being under control?" Naruto shifted in position, changing his stance so it was more defensive than aggressive. "Why do you care to know, anyways?"

"I have no desire to kill you, but I must if you persist." Haku appeared within a mirror before them. He considered the two Genin before him before allowing them an option out. "Should you give up, however, your lives will be spared."

"Give up?" Naruto smiled charmingly. "I'll have to decline, Hunter-san. I'd much rather grasp death with both hands if it means I can spare an innocent life."

"Hn." The Uchiha inclined his head in agreement.

"Then I regret your views." The Hunter-nin lifted a single senbon as if to signify with it what was to come. "This is... truly... the end for you."

Senbons - multiplied in number from the previous attacks, and now twice as accurate as before - attacked the two within the ice mirrors.

~.~.~

The air itself seemed distorted by the sheer number of senbons that now hurled themselves towards the two Genin.

Naruto was taking it all into stride, casually side-stepping a brace of senbons to dull the pain. His stance was purely defensive - hinting nothing of pain or surprise. His eyes were like frosted glass - a cold, emotionless, and unforgiving azure hue - betraying nothing in his impassive expression.

If only Sasuke could claim that he had faired the same as the blond shinobi besides him.

But the blond seemed a world apart from Sasuke - Sasuke, whom could do nothing to control the panic in his expression, whom couldn't seem to hide the obvious surprise in his quick movements as he attempted to avoid as many of the senbons as possible.

Sasuke stepped backwards cautiously, only for a senbon that had fallen to the ground there to sink into the plastic rubber of his sandals.

Leaping backwards, he skidded to a halt before another brace of senbons.

Safe for the moment, he turned to see how his companion was faring, and onyx eyes widened in undiluted surprise.

_.: That can't be... :._The Uchiha's eyes narrowed. _.: A lethal strike? :._

If - of course - the blond had only been spared a swift glance, Sasuke would've simply turned away and missed it.

If he had been any less than the rookie of the year in the Academy, he could've simply gone back to his own predicament, after labeling the blond off as 'fine.'

But then he was Sasuke Uchiha, top rookie in the ninja Academy for the year, the last Uchiha.

And thus, he caught what even the blond himself had missed.

A brace of senbons, poised in a vital area in which Sasuke knew - from his brief studies of atonomy - could kill, propelled onwards by a casual cloaking shield of chakra that made the senbons practically lethal.

Naruto stepped backwards - carefree as ever - missing the senbons which were poised from behind. The senbons which had the potency to kill the blond. Which _would _kill the blond shinobi in a matter of seconds...

_.: It can't... :._ Panic, in quantities unbecoming of an Uchiha, surged up within him. _.: Another last... kill? :._

Crimson eyes, locking within a black triangle in which commas swum in spirals came to Sasuke's mind, as would a hazy visual recollection - The haunting features of his brother that fateful night... And that sense of worthlessness in life... The darkness of the night...

_.: If you will remain in constant pursuit of him... :._ A dreary whisper that scratched in his ears. .: Y_ou will loose everything along the way. Had you not lost your family once already? :._

His body lunged forward on impulse - for once, not considering the consequences, for once, not weighing the values of his actions before executing them.

He lunged... And he fell as the senbons struck him, instead.

~.~.~

_.: I should've noticed earlier. :._But he hadn't, too occupied with the senbons poised in front of him, in clearer view of him. _.: What did all that studying in Sandaime-sama's library amount to, if I couldn't even notice those senbons behind me? :._

He had allowed himself a moment of carelessness. And he had paid dearly for it.

"...Sasuke?" Naruto knelt besides the fallen figure. "Are you... alright?" It was a stupid question, but he couldn't help asking it, nonetheless.

After all, it was Naruto who hadn't noticed the senbons. And it had been Sasuke whom had paid for his ignorance - taking the senbons for his own and taking the attack in Naruto's stead.

Although they had never been close friends... Never friends at all, actually, as they had both been content with the simple term 'teammates' that united them together - that simple link, fragile to the hold, being the only semblence of friendship that they had with the other. After all, neither would admit that the other was his friend - Both of them would never submit themselves to such indignity.

Their separate quirks in personality destroyed any possibility of them being friends and of them ever striking up a conversation that would last beyond the initial pleasantries. And even then, the pleasantries spoken between each other were short in length and few in number.

Yet... Something felt so oddly _right _in this moment. Practically cradling the Uchiha, and murmuring words of sympathetic empathy... Realization clinked down onto Naruto in icy links.

They were practically brothers - if only in thought - united under that single front, even if both were not even remotely familiar with each other. While they were not ideally sociable to each other, they carried shackling memories, shackling _ambitions_, for that matter, that would prevent them from ever carrying the desire of becoming close friends - friends forever, as the teenage civilians of the day called it - to anyone.

Apparently, Sasuke had come to the same revelation as he turned his eyes - lit up in comprehension - to the blond shinobi.

"I..." The Uchiha struggled for words even as his complexion turned a sickening pale shade of color. "Wait... Naruto..."

"What is it?" Naruto peered down at the Uchiha, discontent visible in his features.

"... promise me ..." The words were just barently coherent.

Naruto felt a frown marr his features when an explanation wasn't forthcoming. "Promise what, Sasuke?" A hint of annoyance slipped through his defenses. "That I'll grab a tissue and wipe away your tears or something?"

Sasuke labored for breath. "I..." Sasuke's bloodshot eyes looked up frantically, _blindly_, Naruto realized with a chill of dread. "... Couldn't kill... I'm not..."

"Are you?" Naruto inquired. "Not what?"

By then, the other's reserve strength was lost. Inclining his head fractionally, eyes immersed with the scarlet of blood ,he rasped out in a faint whisper, a soft exhale of breath - a single heart-rending word... "...Nii-san."

The Uchiha's shoulders relaxed and his eyes dimmed as they closed.

His frame went limp.

Naruto paused for a moment to allow a second of silence before sighing - a quick unforthcoming exhale of air.

He gingerly felt for a pulse on pure impulse, only to be rewarded with the sounds of soft distorted echos of heartbeats meeting his fingers in vibrations.

Naruto exhaled sharply - letting loose a cloud of air he hadn't known he'd been holding.

_.: He remains in the securities of life, then. :. _Naruto's lips curled upwards in an impassive smile.

Even as he stood, after carefully setting the Uchiha down on the iced-over ground, he felt strangely emotionless. As if the event that had just occured had simply been a ripple on water - soon to be lost in the chaos of the sea.

It was as if his emotions were a world apart from him... and he could only stare helplessly at them as they passed by.

He glanced over apathetically, only to catch sight once more of the fallen Uchiha.

The weak whispered words came back to him once more, preserved in memory. _"Wait..."_

_.: Wait for what? :. _Naruto frowned. _.: Why did he leave me an incomplete puzzle to work out? Surely, the last Uchiha can do better than that... :._

_"Naruto..." _That word, spoken so softly - The voice which had issued the word so weak, so fragile... The Uchiha's whispered words, as fragile as autumn leaves. _"... Don't."_

It meant nothing. He had just been calling his name - The stupid Uchiha had nothing better to say, probably.

And yet...

A heartbeat, a quick shift in movement, a sharpening of breath...

_"Promise me."_

The weak, warm, whispered words...

Naruto's fury burst up in a torrent.

Everything that Sasuke had been working towards here was dead. Their lives meant nothing - _They_, themselves, meant nothing. And it was only in measures of chakra and skills that the shinobi world would recognize them...

His eyes narrowed in righteous outrage, and his entire frame shook with incredulity. He was _furious. _Furious at how quickly, how easily, his teammate had been dismissed, furious at himself for not noticing the instruments that had caused this fall, furious at the shinobi that had caused this - furious at everything - and yet, curiously, furious at nothing.

Emotions blurred around him.

He was nothing... Nothing... could never be more... And yet...

A sharp bubble of certainty snapped within him as his mind grasped for an explanation.

...And yet he was everything, before these presences superimposed upon him.

In that moment, his physical features - distorted as they were, changed.

His eyes changed, morphing from their normal cerulean hue - to a majorelle blue, tinted with faint lavender-blue hues. He was taller, by some scarce inches - his skin was a faint white, lighter than it had been in years. Silver entwined within his pupils...

But these physical differences, the change of the eyes aside, meant nothing in the face of the torrent of emotions within, bubbling at last to the surface.

Standing then, before his adversary, his eyes like exotic diamonds chipped from the cores of the Earth itself, he knew a moment of deep loathing hatred.

As his newly-tinted eyes narrowed, the waters below the bridge frothed. The wind rippled. The temperature dropped to an abnormal cold, and the ice mirrors cracked - shattering around him like confetti for a last and final act.

* * *

...And thus, you have Naruto's bloodline. I've covered all the major things that his bloodline can do in the last line. I mean... It's just a tad ironic, isn't it? How all he wants to do is become a part of the sky, and he has this Kekkei Genkai which will give him all the basic properties of the sky. XD

This chapter was a bit difficult to phrase, though. D: The last bit, especially. If anyone doesn't know how majorelle blue looks like, I'd probably recommend looking it up. It's not too bad of a color, really. :D

I do hope that this didn't end up OOC or anything. D: I'll fix it if I get enough people telling me it is. :D Promise! XD

And - No. That last scene wasn't meant to be NaruSasu or SasuNaru or whatever you want to call it. I wanted to establish some lines of brotherhood between them - Is that really so bad? D:

**Notice: **_Pairings will be noted on a poll, which - for now - remains on my profile._

I would _strongly_ recommend voting for the pairing of your choice if you want a specific pairing in this story. The reason? It's below in italics.

_If I don't have a solid pairing to work on by my fifth chapter, then I'll have to leave this story without any pairings._

The reason as to that is because this story progresses pretty quickly. Since my chapters are ridiculously long, I have the chance to incorporate more events throughout the storyline. Thus, any feelings and everything will have to be cemented by the fifth chapter, by which the Chuunin Exams will - hopefully - already have occurred in my story.

I'll probably update again by next... April. D: I'm simply far too busy right now.

But that's that, really. I hope this chapter didn't come off too sappy... D:

Drop off a review and have a nice day ~ ! :D


	4. Breaking Illusions into Reality

And here's my little coddleshell of thoughts for those reviewers who asked for my opinion:

j0hnni: I... had no idea about that, actually. O_o I'll keep as much care out as I can as for names, though. And... if there's any scenes I should focus on in particular, notify me and I'll focus on it as soon as I get to it. :D One of the main reasons why I actually chose to exclude the bell training was because of how overrated it became. Naruto does something spectacular and Kakashi is amazed and his team is on the precipitate of forming a better opinion of him is the basic outline I've ever seen for improved!Naruto stories. I left that more for the imagination and speculation - if I shouldn't have had, though, I'm sorry. D: - to avoid going by the regular routine with my story. The bell test will mean almost absolutely nothing in this story. And as Naruto's development will come at a staggeringly fast rate, the test won't be much to miss, in my honest opinion.

InARealPickle: I can't answer the questions yet, as they're meant to be speculated on for awhile. Answers are going to come eventually; hopefully by the next few chapters actually. :D

Beloveddaughteroftheking: To be honest, when I first began writing the story, I had absolutely no inclination to changing Naruto's appearance at all due to the Kekkei Genkai. But as I began to give the story more depth, I wanted to emphasis and sodify the prominence of the Kekkei Genkai, and allow it to assert itself, even if only faintly, in Naruto, in any possible way. As the sky is considering an aerial part of the atmosphere... That's where I got my height idea. Call me foolish if you want, but I really thought it worked out... no? D:

King of the Kiln: That... is actually a really good idea. I'll see if I can incorporate that as well into my following chapters. Thanks so much for the idea though! :D I can't believe I couldn't think of lightning!

Dialogue Interpretations:

"Character Speech"

_.: Character Thoughts :._

**.:. Demonic Speech .:.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. And - just for the record - I don't wanna own it either. XD

* * *

**Majorelle** (noun), _m'a-jor-el-lle_: (1) A colour invented by artist Jacques Majorelle, (2) a bold, intense, and striking shade of blue

* * *

Cool drops of effervescence lingered in the frothing waves below - as if dipped into the acidic substances of emotions by the tendrils of chakra that lashed about freely into the air.

_.: But then what is... this child? :._ The singular question crossed his mind in the face of everything. Wind howled in his ears in a fierce torrent of air that scattered the waters below. _.: And his eyes... A Kekkei Genkai? :._

His ice mirrors shattered into crystals even as he stepped back from the presence before him.

"Who are you?" The words were weak, and just barely audible, even to him.

"I remain who I am." The reply was tart. "You know my name, I trust." The blond child smiled up disarmingly at the missing-nin. "Do you not, Hunter-san?"

The water beneath the bridge frothed up in stormy waves.

"I - "

"I have an inquiry for you." Naruto cut across his words smoothly. "You could have killed Sasuke, Hunter-san." Majorelle eyes darkened. "Though I will not be so begrudging as to say it didn't benefit my team..." His eyes narrowed. "Why did you spare him when you were under no obligations to do so?"

"My reasons are my own." Haku shook off the faint sense of premonition he felt at the hostility of the words exchanged. Nonsense... He shook off the feeling of trepedition: He was a shinobi trained to kill. If he was to be intimidated so easily by a mere Genin...

Naruto's eyes closed, resignation etched into his features as he spoke. "I see." The wind rippled as it tore across the ice mirrors. "Then... This is the end for you, Hunter-san."

Scarlet chakra rippled up into the frosted air as he spoke.

**: x x x x :**

A repugnant malicious sensation... Like rotten bones on a glacier of thawing ice...

_.: This chakra... :._ The kunai in the man's hand faltered. _.: Has the seal broken? :._

The mist swirled about him, seamlessly surrounding him. His vision blurred in the hazy substance, even as the corrosive chakra touched on his consciousness repulsively.

The Jounin inclined his head, pinpointing the source of the chakra outbreak. A faint flicker of blue soothed his chagrin and taunt muscules relaxed in relief. Hope lingered; the seal was dented through, but not entirely broken... Nothing was lost as of yet...

"I must disappoint you, Zabuza." His voice strained as he attempted to mantain tranquility in the chaos erupting around him. "But I'll have to finish this quickly."

The mist simmered quietly. The faintest sound of a quickening breath, of the warmth of a person just faintly existing, signified Zabuza's derision as for Kakashi's words: How could the Jounin, whom hadn't been able to kill the missing-nin yet, destroy him now, even in this moment of sudden necessarity?

Kakashi's kunai cut across fabric, faint threads asunder in the wind. The crisp parchment of a scroll touched his fingertips...

A single crimson eye darkened in color. "You seem to believe that I survived solely with the use of my Sharingan." Kakashi continued, at last giving voice to his own contempuous thoughts. "Now allow me to give you reason to change and better your opinion of me, without the aid of the Sharingan..."

Blood streaked across the paper in a repugnant crimson cross, forming a grotesque seal.

A small smile at the expense of the missing-nin flickered across his features as the tables of events turned at last in the Jounin's favor.

**: x x x x :**

Pure undiluted anger broke across his consciousness, cracking through his normally inpenetratable barriers to morph into a substance in which defying was laughable...

The air was frigid, and yet... He moved quickly in this enviroment, removing a kunai from his holster and icing over the dangerous metal edge with ice... Instinctively. Instantaneously. On a mere whim. A bubble of laughter nearly escaped him... It was almost as if he was one with the ice, the air...

A well-executed throw of the arm, a quick burst of ice - And the missing-nin leapt - entirely at ease, Naruto noted - to the side, dislodging a few senbons of his own.

Naruto slowed, even as the crimson chakra continued to move haphazardly from left to right as it made out a faint outline of a fox with its straying scarlet tendrils.

The Hunter-nin's shoulders relaxed. "How did you know that he was alive?"

"Do not all living beings carry within them a beating heart?" Naruto inquired. Cool dispassionate eyes met startled hazel ones. "And from that heartbeat, can we not see if they are alive?"

The other shinobi's eyes narrowed into indistinguishable slits. "What are you?" He inquired, phrasing his initial question differently - adopting the 'what' in place of asking whom the child was.

The child rewarded him with a tired smile for his inquiries, closing his eyes as he considered the question. "If you, a more experienced superior shinobi than I, do not know my identity, then how would you expect me to know myself, Hunter-san?"

Silence.

And then chakra filtered through the air once more - powerful, potent, _deadly._

Haku blocked a chakra-enhanced strike by the child's fist, feeling the pressure of the strike vibrate through his wrists - only to be given a sharp upwards jab to the chin as the child kicked out haphazardly in the air.

The wind whipped, grating loud - intercepting sounds and demolishing them before they met his ears. The soft sounds of water lapping at the metal of the bridge had long since disappeared, succumbing to the ferocity of the sounds of the wind.

Majorelle eyes narrowed, and a lash of red chakra reached out, elonged strips of scarlet staining the frosted air to a crimson hue.

He intercepted a harsh blow to the face, lifting up his arms to block another hit to his shoulder. His fingers buzzed lightly with the static electricity of chakra, even as his hands lowered after the attempted hit had long since been ministered.

Pure chakra streamed diagonally, as he felt a faint pain to the left of his jaw - a fist that brushed past him, the chakra-enhancement of the punch scratching his jawline raw...

A fist impacted squarely on his shoulder - throwing him backwards, he was reeling as the repugnant scarlet chakra festered at his flesh... The chakra which seemed to prematurely rot his blood... He shook off the feeling.

Retiliating at last, the missing-nin flipped backwards on the iced-over metal, landing on some shards of his once-revered ice mirrors. Senbons whizzed past the blond's head - just barely missing - snipping off a few golden locks of hair... Soft blows into the air...

The Genin manuevered about him, as scarlet chakra rippled about him - resonating enough to still his muscules, freeze their tenseness...

Haku landed a solid blow on the Genin - ice crystals bursting up like wonderful fountains of frozen water geysers, and freezing the distorted bones and flesh of the Genin in place. A second later, the ice burst into clouded smoke and the child slipped away...

...The smoke eminatating from the crystals blurred the child from sight...

Cold metal touched his neck - the lethal edge dipped in some cold substance - _ice?_

The child had disappeared, only to materialize behind him - kunai poised in hand.

Cold majorelle-hued eyes narrowed. "And you?" A whisper echoed across the air as cold metal clinked on ice. "What are you?"

Hazel eyes registered a softened surprise before his entire figure relaxed. He had taken the child's age for granted, allowed it to dull his normally lethal strikes with empathic gentleness. Turning hazel eyes skywards, he recognized the muteness of a defeat gone awry.

"What am I?" Haku felt laughter bubble up incontrollably in his throat as the last of his ice-mirrors cracked before his eyes. "But under what obligations am I to tell you, shinobi-san?"

The steel of the kunai nearly cut into his skin.

"It's no longer a matter of obligations, Hunter-san." The warning hiss of a viper lingered in his ears. "It is a matter of life and death, is it not?"

"And is my life in danger?"

The wind howled about them, increasing in both sound and pressure, almost drowning out his voice.

"Is it not?" Steel in the voice, and majorelle eyes narrowed.

"Perhaps." Haku allowed, even as the truth of the situation dawned upon him. He had been bested by a mere Genin, even if only by faulty play, from the looks of it. And yet... Tired hazel eyes glanced back at the child. "What do you wish to know?"

"Do you possess a Kekkei Genkai?" His eyes eyes glanced speculatively at the ice mirrors as he spoke.

A dry grating laugh. "But I could ask the same of you, shinobi-san."

"Perhaps." Nothing but the most inane of emotions were revealed in Naruto's impassive expression. The water stirred lightly beneath the bridge. "I only required confirmation, after all."

A pause. "Is that all?"

Footsteps tread across the iced-over metal of the bridge. "I have a last question." The child's grip on the kunai - such deadly weapons in the hands of whom was but an infant, Haku mused - slackened. "_Who_ are you?" Frustration in the voice. "You never answered that question..."

The shards of ice at his feet quivered. "And why does it concern you, shinobi-san?"

Ice clinked softly beneath their feet and the child lowered his kunai from the missing-nin's throat.

Haku stiffened, even as the other figure stepped back quietly, almost apologetic - Haku would've believed it if the situation hadn't been so precarious. And then it dawned that the child had not intended to break into his innermost barriers, and had only attempted an improptu interrogation as was only natural. And when finding himself far too submerged in the enemy's mind, the child had immediately retreated, fleeing the oceanic depths before the waters sought to drown him. Hazel eyes softened at the innocent gesture.

"Is it not crucial to understand an enemy?" Naruto inquired softly.

"You wish to know my name?" A quick laugh. "But I call myself Haku. Would that satisfy you, shinobi-san?"

The child's brow furrowed. "It's odd really, but... you remind me..." Like a leaf touching water. Ripples forming on the cool surface.

"Of...?" Inquisitive, like a shard of ice fading fast from a pool of cold water. A water of realization and knowledge. Of wisdom and death.

"... One that I met. A few days ago." A quick shake of the head. "It seems irrelevant, but that person was searching for herbs... and Zabuza-san's former condition being taken into regard, as well as his unusually quick recovery..." Something about the tired hazel eyes just barely visible in the narrowed slits of the porcelian mask, and the tender tired voice. "Was it...?" The question almost tangible in the air...

The wind curled like a feather in his direction as he unfurled the last of his identities to the blond child - the mask slipping out of place - an improptu angling of the wind, he thought ruefully - his visage visible at last.

Majorelle eyes widened in disbelief, and the child dropped the kunai - the metal clinking against the cold ice-plated metal of the bridge - as rainclouds towered over in the sky.

**: x x x x :**

_.: Never break position. :._ It was a fundamental rule for shinobi. Unless in extreme circumstances, a shinobi was to never break position; to break position meant to expose the client and the team, in essence, commit treason. _.: To break position means death… Never….It's the most basic shinobi command: Never break position… :._

Her mind struggled against the idea; why was it so difficult to resolve herself over this? Ordinarily, she'd shield from the idea of bloodshed; such an excuse to remain in defensive position would ordinarily be coveted by her.

And yet…

Emerald eyes scanned around the direct vicinity, only to turn away – almost even disappointed – when no prominent figure appeared against the soft white of the surrounding mist.

"You're searching for them, aren't you?" Tazuna's voice cut across her thoughts. Mild in tone, it cut across like a sieve, shooting through her frazzled nerves. "The two kids that came with you guys…"

Beryl eyes flashed up at Tazuna's tired obsidian ones, momentarily alarmed, before they softened. "It's fine. They'll be alright." A pause. "… They have to be."

A sigh lingered in the water-condensed air. "I can't pretend that I'll believe you there." Tazuna turned, hat slipping over hooded eyes. "You know as well as I do, perhaps even better. That Hunter-nin…" His voice trailed off.

Pink strands of hair blew in the waywards wind in an uncertain shake. "The most basic shinobi conduct to follow… requires the shinobi to stay with the client." The folds of her weapon holster were creased and the silver edge of a kunai could be seen dangling from pale hands. "The moment that sensei gives the clear, though, I can look for them."

Smoke curled into coils in the distance, as faint residues of a fire.

"Wait." The one word was gravitational with its pull. "Kid. If I go with you, your sensei can't do anything about it, can he?"

Startled emerald eyes turned to him, wide and dilated. Frazzled nerves and coiled tensions mirrored the broken agony in her eyes. "… Tazuna?"

Trampling the faint sensation of uneasiness he felt within himself, he forced himself to smile. It was his mess to begin with; it was his to end with. "Let's go."

Sunlight waned and disappeared behind the obscurity of dark clouds.

**: x x x x x :**

The kunais clashed together, spitting out silver fire in their explosions. The missing-nin spat out an indecent word of profanity - which was vulgar in the presence of children, Kakashi thought absently later - as one of Kakashi's dogs sank his fangs into the man's flesh.

"Why...?" The painful question curled in the wind as Zabuza's eyes turned to the Jounin with an expression of utmost loathing.

"It's over, Zabuza." Kakashi lowered his head, somber to the last. "Forgive me."

"You... You rogue son of a..."

Kakashi silenced him with a glance. "It's over." Finality struck in the word and silence ensued.

**: x x x :**

The kunai fell, crystallizing over as it was preserved in ice, as it fell to the ground.

"Why?" The voice nearly cracked as the question echoed, lingering in the frosty air. Spider-web cracks formed on the toppling ice smashed on the floor.

"A debt..." His voice was nothing more than a scratch on the wind, a slight disturbance in the air. He owed the misbegotten child that much, for the deceit and confusion that he'd evoked. There existed no more reason to hide behind glass mirrors of illusions when the mirrors had been pounded into fine powder... "A debt that I owe Zabuza-sama..."

The blond shinobi stepped back curtly, awaiting an explanation. The wind abated, allowing silence at last between them.

Haku obliged to the silent inquiry. "You may not be aware of this, but the Hidden Mist Village had constant blood feuds in earlier years." A leaf curled, withering away within the torrent of the waters below. "As a result, not longer after, those that possessed a Kekkei Genkai were hated and persecuted."

"For being used as major components of the war." Naruto breathed. "And those that possessed a Kekkei Genkai were killed."

The figure before him stepped backwards, almost apologetically. "Then you know what happened."

Naruto nodded slowly. "I can imagine."

Haku nodded, figure drawn and imposing. "I won't bore you with the details of my tragedy if you know of it already, if only the basics. In the end... It's only the foundation that counts." Shards of ice touched the metal of the bridge. "Instead... I have a favor to ask of you."

"A favor?" His breath sharpened, small clouds of carbon expelled into the air.

"For defeating me." Hazel eyes snapped open with new alacrity. "It may be selfish to ask this of you, when you don't have loved ones to help you comprehend why I have such a request..."

"What is it?" A touch of impatience tore across his voice.

"Zabuza-sama has no need to lug around chipped and broken tools, not broken kunai or frayed nin-wires." Ice clinked on frosted sheet metal. "I vowed long ago that should I ever become as useless to him as those cumbersome broken weapons, I would dispose of myself... "

Majorelle eyes widened. "You're asking me to kill you, Haku-san?" The tulbant waters beneath them frothed up in agonized waves. "But... why...?"

"To me," The wind faltered. "Zabuza-sama meant my world; he was what my life orbited around." The waters below crashed together in a chaotic mess of confusion as the blond shinobi stepped back uncertainly. "To fight for him was my purpose in life. To lose to one of his enemies meant that my life was forfeit to me; my life would no longer matter as it would lose purpose."

"But you could be of use to him against other opponents." Naruto replied uncertainly. "I can't..."

"I nearly killed your friends. I slew men for weaker reasons, by the hundreds." A pause. "I trust that you know what happens to defeated shinobi in times of havoc?"

"I... Yes, I do know. But - " The wind torrented around the two. "I..."

"What other purpose do I have to live?" An odd misshapen smile shadowed his facial expressions. "When my own purpose has been ripped apart from me?"

The wind fell eeriely silent at once.

Silence ensued for a moment before Naruto's voice broke the harmonious sound of lapping waters.

"I'm sorry..." A bidden apology, thrust up into the heavens to grant him some small mercies for his sins.

Fabric rustled softly, alive in the presence of the wind as the blond shinobi carefully reached into his kunai holster. Cloth rustled, broken tendrils of fabric aflutter in the wind. The bright silver edges of the retrieved kunai glowed etherically in the condensed light.

Clouds gathered in the sky, darkly knit together as if embroiled with the works of seamstresses...

Hazel eyes closed, disclosing nothing in their tired closing, like the shutters clicking softly into place on a window.

Footsteps pattered up - unwilling and uncertain - but moving forward, the kunai stretched out like a baton, lethal edges glimmering and alive in the fading sunlight.

And silence entwined itself into the tapestry of the present; embroiled with the hazy lights of repenance and forgiveness.

**: x x x x :**

The soft darkness of eternity beckoned him forward, reaching out with inked tendrils of colors...

Hazel eyes closed, resigned, as footsteps pattered forward and the distinctive sound of a kunai slashing through the emptiness of air echoed in his ears.

Silence filtered into the air before the faint sound of crackling cloth brushed across his consciousness. Snapping, breaking substances...

_.: ... Electricity. :_. The one word flashed through his mind. Ennui was impossible even in these last tranquil moments; the thought plagued his mind: Why was it so important?

Footsteps rung out, closer than ever, echoing on the frosted metal-plated bridge. Something was wrong... terribly so, and yet, even as his mind raced for a solution, he felt the answer ring distinctly within him. He already knew...

_.: Genin can't produce electrical jutsu. :. _Ice shards, shattered on the bridge's metal plates, shimmered as light refracted off of their faceted surface._ .: ... And Zabuza-sama cannot use jutsu of those calibers as well. :._

The discrepancies stilled his thoughts as realization flooded within him. _.: Kakashi is the only one amongst them that can produce electrical chakra. :._ Alarms snapped in the forefront of his mind. Muscules stretched, flexed painfully at the strife, as his figure leapt forward, thoughts lost in the chaos of haste. The sound of birds echoed faintly in his conscious...

"Forgive me." Hazel eyes turned to the startled Genin before him. The child's hand, clasped convulsively on the kunai, tightened its hold, knuckles splayed with white in irregular patterns. He turned away in a fleeting moment, sympathy etched into his features. "I still have something I must do. But perhaps this is for the best."

He darted forward, side-stepping the child, even as majorelle eyes focused slowly on Haku's retreating figure - as if his vision had blurred, sight failing him in this crucial moment.

The sound of chirping birds rung in his ears; his pace picked up, alarmed hazel eyes turning to the two figures visible before him.

Naruto's grip on the kunai slackened - pale white discolorations in his fingers disappearing, just as Haku slipped between the folds of two warring opponents.

As the Chidori ripped through the Hunter-nin's heart, the blond shinobi's eyes dimmed back to their normal cerulean hue.

**: x x x x :**

_.: Something's different... :._ But it was difficult to ascern what it was that had caused the discreptancies through the thick mist that surrounded them. The heavy scent of blood - like diluted copper - touched on his senses comfortingly, _but the blood wasn't Zabuza's._

The mist cleared, just as Kakashi retracted his hand from the bloody corpse, though now he sensed distinctly that the corpse wasn't Zabuza's, that the missing-nin's blood hadn't been shed by far...

But even prepared with that knowledge, it was difficult to gaze at the sight of the bloody mangled corpse of the false Hunter-nin with anything but horror as dead pupils glistened with beads of blood...

"I should've known he'd be of use to me." The missing-nin's voice was amused, a stark contrast from what the scene before them suggested. "But I suppose it's too late now."

Zabuza turned his weapon - the blade cleaved through wind, as Kakashi realized with mute astonishment that the missing-nin intended to cut through the corpse of the child to deal Kakashi a fatal blow...

Air whirled around the two in a torrent, lashing out brutally. Dark splotches of blood dripped onto the metal below in a grumesome pattern as the corpse fell, body contorted at irregular angles as the frosted ice on the bridge cut through decaying skin...

"What is this?" A malicious voice, almost nasal in its disappointment, barked out. The sound of restless feet on metal and voices lingered faintly in the air. "Is this all one can get from the Demon of the Mist?"

Both shinobi turned to the voice, only to discover a horde of men shifting in multitudes on the bridge, all of them evidently from the slums of society, should their tattered clothing and weaponary be any indication. And before them all was a short set man with frazzled hair, sunglasses set firmly on a crooked nose, with a gnarled cane in hand.

Silence descended; nothing was said as a hush fell over the group. Zabuza froze, eyes turned disbelievingly to the man, Gatou, that stood smugly before them all.

Nothing was said; not a word was spoken. The truth was evident before them all. The fetid odor of betrayal stung the missing-nin worse than any words which could have been issued in that crucial moment.

"Pathetic..." The word broke through the silence. "Is this really all it entails to be a demon? If anything, you're only a child of one." Obsidian eyes narrowed, cruelty evident in the flashing orbs of loathsome colors. " ... Did you really think that I'd pay you for killing the man, Zabuza? If I would have had, I'd have hired a ninja from a village instead, wouldn't I?"

"Perhaps." An amiable voice intruded, almost pleasant in its civility. Kakashi relaxed, tension draining from his features as he recognized the voice distinctly. "But a shinobi village would've been much more hesitant to assassinate a harmless old bridgebuilder with no reason at all, am I correct?" The faint shadow of an approaching figure was evident through the thickening mist. "But I suppose that the village would have given you tea as they discussed the issue with you, whilst a missing-nin would give you a cup filled with the blood of the enemy instead. And to you, the cup of blood would have been more favorable than the tea."

Gatou stepped backwards, grip faltering on the cane as his brow contorted in confusion. "And who are you?"

The mist cleared enough for a moment for a blond child to be distinguishable, with a headband evident on his forehead. Familiar cerulean eyes met dark obsidian ones as the child smiled blankly at the man. "Tell me, Zabuza-san," the child addressed the missing-nin, even as he fixed his gaze steadily on the short-set man before him. "Do you still have ambitions to kill Tazuna-san?"

"If I did, I wouldn't get anything out of it, would I?" Zabuza replied tartly. "My quarrel with you and the bridge-builder is over."

"So be it." A thin ghost of a smile flickered over the blond's face. "And Haku-san?"

"Haku's dead." The missing-nin remained impassive, eyes turned to Gatou as well as he spoke.

Naruto inclined his head thoughtfully to the side. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" A short laugh escaped the missing-nin, the sound odd and contorted in the utter stillness about them. "Shinobi were meant to be tools. They were trained and their abilities were honed for that purpose." A pause. "The death of a shinobi means nothing in the reflections of the shinobi world."

Something flashed in darkly embroiled cerulean eyes. "Perhaps," he conceded. "But even tools have merit, I suppose, should they have been faithful. And Haku-san fit that criteria well, didn't he?"

Emotions touched over the missing-nin's face. "And who are you to judge that?"

"Who knows?" Naruto shrugged haplessly. "In the end, it's only the foundation that counts after all, isn't it?"

Dark obsidian eyes shuttered, blinking, as if to break free from the gauze of dreams and illusions. "He told you that, didn't he?" A short laugh burst into the air like a bubble breaking through water. "I should've known. He was too kind to be much of a weapon."

A serene smile graced the shinobi's facial features. "That was all I needed to know."

Zabuza turned away, eyes narrowing in on the mob of unruly citizens before him. "Be that as it is, we have higher priorities now." Hands clutched at the broken sword, before drawing away. The metallic glint of a kunai shimmered from beneath the folds of unruly cloth. "Give Haku my regards."

And then footsteps thundered against the bridge, echoing eerily across the plated metal. Zabuza tore across the ranks of citizens. Blood spurted into the air as the water below thrashed fiercely, foamy waves colliding with one another.

Just as Gatou's figure fell, tormented with bloody slashes into his flesh, and Zabuza's own body rolled backwards in a mutual defeat against death, Naruto's eyes waned in color - faintly impersonating its former glowing majorelle hues.

As Zabuza's figure was brought before Haku's in a grotesque parody of mutual graves, snow fell in papery-white flakes from the sky, as if granting the two a last gift from the skies above.

**: x x x x :**

"I can't thank you enough." Tazuna's voice simmered with emotions as he spoke. "If you ever decide to come back, Wave itself will welcome you with open arms."

"It's alright." The lazy drawl of the Genins' mutual sensei filtered into the air. "We'll have to leave now that the bridge is finished. There's some things I want to look into back at Konoha."

"We won't forget you." Inari glanced up at the group before them. "Not ever..."

A small smile flickered across Naruto's face as cerulean eyes warmed with compassion. "We won't forget any of you either."

"I sure hope not." Tazuna replied heartily. " 'Long as you remember us, you can come back 'cross the bridge whenever you want. And speaking of the bridge..." His voice dropped, quietening in thoughtful silence. "We'll need a good name for it, won't we?"

Naruto shrugged. "It's yours to name. We guarded it, whereas you created it. It's only natural."

"Then how about the 'Great Uzumaki Naruto Bridge,' ?" Amused obsidian eyes met startled cerulean ones. "If it wasn't for you, I doubt that Wave would have undergone such a change in spirit. And considering how we want a strong name for our bridge... It's only fitting, isn't it?"

Naruto stepped backwards, footsteps echoing across water-slicked steel. "We'll return sometimes and see how it ends up, then." Sunlight streaked across the sky in bright vivid colors.

"We'll miss you." Inari glanced up at Naruto, dark eyes squinting in the halo of sunlight.

"We will too." Naruto laughed, the sound bubbling up like effervescence, naturally, in the air.

Sakura stepped forward, emerald eyes almost apologetic in its tranquility as she spoke. "We'll be going then…"

"Hn." The familiar one-worded response broke apart the veil of abeyance they had bided by, and as the Uchiha turned to leave, dignified as always – despite the wad of cotton bandaged to his normally unmarred visage – Naruto withdrew himself as well.

"Goodbye." Bright cerulean eyes – brighter than the morning sun – blinked in a numerous succession of times, blinking back certain tears. And as the group withdrew from Wave at last, the sun quit the affairs of the sky and a startling night – premature by hours, at best – was ensured.

* * *

Right. Major apology owed to all reading this. I honestly meant by update at least two to three months earlier, but then a FF glitch came up and I lost a lotta data. Shortly after, I had AP testing n Finals n graduation so things have been kinda…. yeah, but hopefully, I'll be having more time over vacation to write. :D

Also, poll results are up for viewing! The poll is still up, but I'm going to officially close it in a couple weeks, as I'll need the results by the time I start working on the next chapter. Look on my profile for the poll, and please vote if you haven't! The votes are really close for a couple of the pairings, but as of today, I'm saying it now: Naruto x Temari is in the lead.

And… More on Naruto's Kekkei Genkai will be explained in the following chapters. I'm not too eager to say too much right now, but alotta you were close on your guesses. :D That's all I'm saying. XP Oh, and plus: I'll be explaining what Sakura's scene was in my beginning preludes, if anyone wants to know. :D Anyone? Anyone at all? ... Hello? D:

I'm not all that keen on FF in top priorities in my life, so don't expect me to be spewing out a chapter every other month. Most of the time, updates will lag and I'll take forever to reply to messages, but I will try. :D It's really just that a lot of stuff is happening this year and I don't wanna miss it. I won't forget FF but if I neglect it abit – I hope you can understand. I'll try to make up for it by the quality of the story and making it as best as I can, shall I? XD

That's all I have to say so… school's just about out. Have a great summer!

Drop off a review and have a nice day~! :D


	5. Fledgling

Hello everyone! What's up? :D Before we start, let's begin with my coddleshell of thoughts for reviewers, shall we?

Beloveddaughteroftheking - Thank you! :D To answer your question, majorelle is a real color. The reason why you've probably never heard of it, however, is because it's entirely a French word. French artist, Jacques Majorelle, invented the Majorelle Gardens, and thus, had the 'majorelle' blue color named after him. I'm rambling now, I know, but does that clarify it?

I would point out another review here, but I'm going to address a single inquiry that I've gotten a surprising amount of times. A lotta people have expressed confusion over the battle scenes, I suppose. In the battle scenes involving Naruto, at least, I made the colors of his eyes important. If his eyes are the color majorelle, the bloodline is to automatically be assumed as active. Cerulean or azure means that the bloodline is dormant and Naruto is working entirely independent of the bloodline. And, of course, red is Kyuubi. Does that explain it? :D

Now, yes to beginning italic sequence. Will there be another in the next chapter? It depends, really. But at the moment, I'm finishing up this chapter in particular. And without further ado, here's the chapter!

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Don't wanna own Naruto. Why do we even have these disclaimers up on the site anyways when it's obvious that Kishimoto isn't skulking around here catching people who use his storyline? I could almost claim that it's just an FF trend now, more for amusement than an actual FF requirement.

* * *

_Serrated skin, dark blue punctures on a white surface. Half-lidded bloodshot onyx eyes. Dead blue veins. A frigid winterland._

_Sakura recoiled, throat working convulsively as emerald eyes dilated, witnessing a terrible sight, the substance of nightmares. A corpse, Sasuke Uchiha once, lay before her, blood like effervescence against armoured cloth. Scratched cheeks, punctured knuckles. The thicker end of his neck was decorated with an assorted quantity of bleeding needles._

_"I... I can't..." Her words were strangled with tears. Trembling fingers touched a frigid puddle of blood. "Sasuke-kun..."_

_Tazuna tipped his straw hat, gaze turned soberly downwards. "I'm sorry."_

_"No." Her eyes glanced upwards, vision clouded and unclear in the filtered light. "It wasn't your fault... I just... I just wish..."_

_She turned back to the body, muffing the agony that ripped savagely through her, with a quiet sob. She was better than this... She had to be better than this uncontrolled crying mess. Had to be... Her lips trembled, on the brink of issuing a cry._

_A flinch._

_Something beat half-heartedly against the narrow end of her arm._

_A rattle of windows. A bird-cry. A fledgling escaping from an egg..._

_Absurd fantasies, but her heart still leaped in absurd expectations. Her breath caught, hiccuping in a sob._

_Onyx eyes opened._

_"... Sakura?"_

_And the world whirled quietly to a stop._

* * *

Chapter VI

Fledgling

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was known throughout the Elemental Countries as a fierce leader, an uncontested power. Fewer, however, knew of his general compassion, his kindness. The benevolence almost always was confined within the boundaries of Konoha, and as the village prospered under the fatherly guidance, his power and disposition grew, reforming itself, sharpening around some edges, softening around others.

He had almost never had to utilize a sterner disposition for the more general civilians and the younger of the shinobi. Civilians dared not wreck havoc; in a village full of trained assassins, the conflict could turn deadly. The younger shinobi were far too inexperienced, too naive, to rebel, to think of causing senseless havoc. The problem was equally difficult to find with the older shinobi, as many were loyal, unsurprised by disappointments, flaws, and discrepancies. Life was molded of those problems. It was only the mid-ranked, the young, especially the progidious in this aspect, that betrayed, that often deserved his wrath. In most cases. In most scenarios. Not discounting the rare others who left for different causes and different goals.

Of course, it wasn't anger that he could evoke in this instance. Nothing close to wrath could substitute for this sense of dying fatigue.

"I believe, Naruto," he began slowly, meditatively rolling his words into a quiet whisper, "that there's something that I've neglected to tell you."

The child glanced up, and bright cerulean eyes met wizened black ones. " 'Jii-san?"

A nondescript yellow file slid across the slanted desk, coming to an abrupt stop at the wooden perch by the edge. Sarutobi paused, considering his words. His next phrase could shape the course of the child's life, and inadvertly bring it either to disaster or to triumph. He wanted to curb the path of chaos, but how could he bar such an easy road to take?

"What is it?" Naruto dropped his gaze, choosing to stare down at the floor instead. "If it's about Tazuna-san, I stayed on that mission because it was right - "

"It's not that." Sarutobi placed a wrinkled arthritic hand over the other, clasping his hands together in deformed applause. "It's something else."

Naruto stilled, eyes probing at the figure before him. It was as if he had derived a secret language, a whispered meaning, from the Hokage's careful words. His hands fell, inane. He leaned forward, shadows breaking across his face as his head came closer to the desk. "Tell me."

A pause. "How much do you know about Kyuubi, Naruto?"

"Not much," Naruto hedged. "But enough." His fingers groped for a hold in the smooth wood of the table, looking for a balance to steady his anxiety on. "It was a demonic fox of nine tails that wrecked this village some twelve years ago."

Light glimmered in his eyes. "Do you remember what came next?"

"The Hokage destroyed it. The Yondaime absorbed the Kyuubi's being and wrecked the molecular frame of it." Wrinkles formed around an unmarred brow. "Am I wrong?"

Sarutobi nodded, leaning back in his chair in quiet contemplation. "This is a first in a very long time." A dry chuckle echoed across the cavernous space. "I'm afraid that you're wrong, Naruto."

"Hokage-sama?" Naruto sat rigidly, elbows jutted out on the desk and head leaned across the edge of the table. Sudden fear struck cerulean eyes. "It's not - "

"The Hokage of the time had bound the demon to an infant entity." Sarutobi interrupted him. "A child that was born on the day of the attack bore the demon henceforth."

Naruto's expression changed, darkening, even as his face was left white, the color of cooling ashes. "October the tenth."

"Incidentally, your birthday, isn't it?" The Sandaime leaned forward, hands reaching for the support of his cane. "Have you drawn the pieces together yet, Naruto?"

Lips moved soundlessly in a mute answer. Cerulean eyes blinked rapidly, even as his pupils flickered with pink circles, imitating a bizarre insomnia. Finally, his lips parted once more, as his fingers relaxed their hold on the mahogany wood. "... It was me, wasn't it?"

"Yes." His shoulders tensed, muscles rippling across aging bones. "Of all the children, he chose you. And you bore the burden well, it appears."

Irritation flickered across the shinobi's face, _how could he joke like this about his life?,_ before it flattened to a smooth mask of cold indifference. "Is that all?"

"There's one other thing, Naruto." Sarutobi paused. "It may not be the best time... but it is the only one we have, I'm afraid."

Blue eyes flickered upwards. The pink circles faded to the customary black hue. "Yes?" Wariness embroiled his voice.

Sarutobi smiled, light breaking across his face in deep rivulets of color. Suddenly, the situation didn't seem so serious, so profound. He could almost laugh... "I promise you, Naruto, that this story isn't one of monsters and demons. That one is over."

Naruto was relieved - the muscles in his facial expression relaxed for a minuscule second - although he tried to hide it. "Then what is it?" His voice retained its sharp edge, a clear distinction that he no longer trusted the Hokage.

The humor vanished in a flash. The smile faded, and deep wrinkles set into the man's face once more. "It's something of your parents, Naruto. Your mother, to be exact."

A pause. Naruto nodded slowly.

"I didn't believe that the trait would be so dominant." Sarutobi considered his words as he spoke. "It was recessive for nearly forty years in your mother's line."

"_What_is it?" Impatience bubbled beneath the brash words, and yet... some undertone took the Hokage by surprise. There was some sinister beat, some soundless drum that struck warningly in his heart.

"You already know it, don't you, Naruto?" The Hokage bent the end of his cane to a stump, turning it as a balance for the chair. "From your last mission. You guessed it out."

_A porcelain mask covered with bright red swirls and two dark slits. Faded traditional robes. Bright glassy mirrors of ice._

_"Forgive me." Fingers reached for clenched fists soothingly. Hazel eyes softened with sympathy. "I still have something I must do. But perhaps this is for the best..."_

_The crackle of electricity. A falling kunai. And staring dead brown eyes. Ice the color of majorelle; the color of his blue, once warm, now icy eyes._

"A Kekkei Genkai," Naruto breathed. "But I thought that it was an illusion. A Genjutsu, even..."

"Hardly." Sarutobi exhaled a puff of spoke from the slender end of his pipe. "Your mother is from the Whirlpool clan. Blessed with inhumane recovery abilities and, in rare cases, a Kekkei Genkai, descended from your ancient ancestors."

Emotions flashed across bright cerulean eyes. "When I was on that mission, the water would foam and the winds would seize - "

"By your bidding, I presume." The Hokage paused, and after a moment of contemplation, his eyes softened. "The Kekkei Genkai allows you control of the basic properties of the weather, namely, wind, water, temperature, and ice."

Determination set into his expression. "The properties of the sky. The sky manufactures weather, after all..." He trailed off, quietening suddenly.

Sarutobi managed a grim smile. "You've ascended up the first flight of stairs, Naruto, to your dream goal, haven't you?" The pipe in his mouth issued dark smoke. "Aren't you happy?"

It was an odd question, to ask in an odd time. It brought Naruto up short for a change. He hesitated, uncertain, for a brief moment. What was it that he was asking?

The question: Was he happy that he was one step closer to abandoning his friends? Happy that he was leaving behind his world after all these long painful years of contemplation? Happy to leave this world of pains and joys and whenevers, to join the world of forevers? _Was he happy?_ Was he _really_?

"I am."

The Hokage nodded sagely. "Good. I had feared that you would lose heart."

"Lose heart?" Naruto's brow crumpled in a mass of wrinkles, like the folds of a blue blanket, concerned. "Why would I do that?"

"Because your Kekkei Genkai is just as prone to hurt you as it is to aid you." Sarutobi lowered his pipe, placing the thin shaft of wood onto a circular metal bowl. "It is, for lack of a better word, uncontrollable if one doesn't utilize his concentration to its fullest extent to manage it."

"I can try."

"You've waited for this for years. I don't doubt that you'll try." The Sandaime turned, before facing the shinobi before him once more. "There are other complications as well, Naruto."

Naruto muttered a sound of assent. "Tell me, then."

"For one, chakra drains. But those shouldn't be a problem, not so long as you have Kyuubi with you." Sarutobi murmured. "Second, more dangerous now, is early death. Thirty years is the life expectancy, and fifty for those in good health." His eyes darkened. "No one was meant to control the sky indefinitely, Naruto. Not only early death will be your bane, but also a loss of vision at twenty. Insanity has been known to occur at the age of eighteen."

"Eighteen?" Disbelief colored cerulean eyes.

"The latter two are a more gradual process." Sarutobi nodded in assent. "You'll first begin noticing them much earlier. On one occasion, insanity through this Kekkei Genkai had been shown from the age of fourteen."

_Blindness at twenty. Insanity at eighteen._ His eyes widened in disbelief. He had known that there would be consequences to such power. The sense of roaring winds, beautiful crashing water, blue skies opening up for a shower of crystal rain at his command, had left a sense of doubt in his mind: _What must I lose for this?_ Death, he had expected. But he had never imagined living as a blind, decrepit, dying patient at a mental institution at the age of twenty as a consequence. Never that. His mind recoiled in horror.

"Tell me, Naruto." Sarutobi began conversationally, even as his eyes sparkled with curious detachment. "Is it really still worth it?" He leaned in closer, and Naruto could have sworn that the Hokage was doing this on purpose - tormenting him with his dream of blue clouds and white skies with this nightmare of insanity and eternal darkness. "Does it still make you... happy, to know that you've begun the ascent up to your dream?"

x . x . x

Blue skies, propped up by tall green trees, glowed with color. Leaves and bits of forestry touched the empty air, futilely grasping at the upraised sky.

Chakra drains, insanity, and_ death._ They were the high prices expected of mortals that wished to step onto the threshold of the sky, that lovely, lonely expanse of air.

_And yet... _that wonderfully cool feeling of _breathing_, for the first time, it seemed. That sense of seeing everything, knowing everything - that uncontrollable, but still wonderful, power - and the bright crystal gaze of his eyes...

_.: Is it worth it? :._ Cerulean eyes shuttered before the fading rays of the sun.

He had been so confused, when Kakashi had stormed directly to the Hokage, practically shoving the receptionist out of the way in a sudden defiant contrast from his normally passive demeanor. The conversation that resulted had taken _hours_, and all throughout it, Kakashi had been dropping subtle little hints like "_red chakra_," _"early nights,"_ and _"bluer eyes."_He had assumed that they were speaking of something else - some oddity encountered on the mission. And, now, Naruto had never felt so stupid before in the entirety of his life.

"Naruto?" A whisper of breath sidetracked him, muddling his thoughts with pleasantaries and inane small talk. "Is that you?"

It was a rather blunt question, when put to examination, and Naruto couldn't help but pause for a moment, despite the warning bells that rung in his mind at the prospect of meeting a stranger. Thinking for just a second, he glanced up, only to catch the clear visage of a girl with pink hair and beryl green eyes.

Naruto smiled quizzically up at the girl. "Hello, Sakura." He considered his words, before amending them to some better question. "What are you doing here?"

"I was taking a walk." Sakura replied before promptly sitting down on the grass besides him. Her attire - her normal pink dress embellished upon with a red sweatband and light shoes - matched her answer. "And what about you, Naruto? Just sleeping out in a training field?"

Naruto nodded slowly. "I was wondering if I could dream again..." _.: Of blue skies and wispy clouds, a brightening sun, and touches of color in the evening sky. :._ "But I don't think that I can anymore."

"Why not?" Sakura turned to him, questioningly, reminding Naruto with a sudden jolt - _because he had forgotten for some reason, long ago_- that no matter how much Sakura would obsess over Sasuke, prioritizing the Uchiha child in her own childish awe, that she was still his friend, despite everything else that could've happened.

"I don't know..." Naruto reclined over the prickly green grass, head rested over outstretched crossed arms. Even so... he wasn't sure if he could tell anyone else his secret fears. He glanced back at her, smiling cheerily back at the girl to placate her. "Maybe I'm just growing up now."

Sakura sighed, expelling puffs of carbon into the clear air. "Even adults dream, Naruto." She paused, almost as if she was considering her words. "You know... " And for a second - for some reason, she seemed to _know_ suddenly, under the fading lights of day, as if the dying streaks of blue in the sky had inspired her, falling gently into puzzle pieces in her mind. Her eyes were lit up, brightened with some secret message.

"Sakura?" Naruto called uncertainly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She said, absently dismissing his concern. She leaned closer towards him, green eyes focused and intent. "But listen, Naruto: It's never a sin to dream."

Her words seemed childishly simple, like words picked at random by some passing screaming child, but it made sense, in some odd, disjointedly vague way. "What do you mean?"

Sakura's eyes softened. "You were afraid to dream again, weren't you?" She turned aside to stare up at the dimming sky above. "But it's not a bad thing to dream. It's really only when you dream big that you start thinking..." Her voice trailed off awkwardly as she glanced back at the boy before her, face twisted in confused uneasiness. "You do get it, don't you?"

Naruto smiled encouragingly back at Sakura. "I think that I understand." He stood up, brushing dirt off of his faded orange jeans as he spoke. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Sakura nodded pleasantly - suddenly kinder than she had been to him in all their previous exchanges, but maybe this was because _Sasuke wasn't here right now_ and _Naruto must've looked so lonely, lying in the grass by himself_. Nonetheless, he was grateful, because no one else could've pointed out this blind logic so faultlessly and obviously. "I should be getting back now, too, I guess," she murmured, in a tone of amiable agreement.

Of course, she'd never understand exactly what she had just done for him. But, even so, she smiled tentatively back at him as she stood up. But even that small smile of encouragement was enough to sustain his dreams for a lifetime.

: x x x x x x x :

It was late in the morning - far later than he had suspected. The sky burned blue. Clouds, painted a fading white, drifted below the sun, quietly acting as supports for the burning hot weather.

"Who are you?" The words were mockingly threatening, a parody of horror - with an immature child's vocals playing the part of narrator, and yet, it was equally frightening for that matter. Cerulean eyes blazed with wrathful anger. "What do you think that you're doing?"

The figure before him, dressed entirely in black clothing and violet paint, turned towards him slowly. He held up a smaller child by the outlandish scarf around his neck - _.: Because, to be realistic, who wore scarves in the middle of summer? _:. -, even as he faced the other shinobi swiftly. "The kid bumped into me."

"That doesn't give you the right to assault the Hokage's grandson." Naruto retorted sharply, words bitter in the humidity of the day. His eyes narrowed. "And the consequences for breaking that policy should be doubled for foreign nin."

The other shinobi's eyes narrowed, probing, as if sensing the quiet challenge through superficial nerves. "Who are you?"

He was rewarded with a small, tight-lipped smile for his inquiry. "I'm just like you, of course." _.: Even though we're as different as fire and water, you and I, in how we choose to live and die. :._"I'm a shinobi."

Naruto could almost _feel_the man's mind whirling, intelligence clicking into place like magnetic puzzle-pieces falling, one by one, into their proper order, as black eyes flickered up to the gleaming metal of Naruto's headband. Silence - terse and tense, nothing like how peaceful and tranquil it should be - permeated the air.

"Let it go, Kankuro." Another voice, though distinctively feminine, cut across, sharp and resounding. A new shinobi. A figure with sepia hair and bright teal eyes, wearing lighter clothing but just as irritated as her companion, emerged, cutting through the silence with a voice of crystal iciness. "It's not worth it."

Kankuro hesitated, deliberating between, apparently, either suffering his accomplice's wrath and saving himself the humiliation or letting go of the child - showing a sign of clear mercy, a principle that he had been taught to avoid at all costs. Deliberation slowed his movements, his mind working feverishly to save himself face, but he never had to choose, really, because in the next second or so -

"Kankuro." A new voice, quiet and menacing, cut across their improptu argument. Naruto would almost have had initiated an attack at the blank presence of a shadow somewhere, dark and brooding and altogether lethal, if not for the shinobi's, Kankuro's, sudden unease. "Quit acting like a disgrace to our village. Let the child go."

The man complied immediately, dropping Konohamaru in an instant, before choking out words of his own - suddenly stilted and beautifully nervous - in comparison to the new intruder's. "I... I wasn't expecting you, Gaara."

"That doesn't matter." The figure stepped out from the shadows - revealing himself to be a child, with pale alabaster skin and bright - blood-red - hair. "You should control yourself better." Deceptively calm green eyes stared dispassionately back at Naruto, attention snapping to turn to the Konoha nin before him. "I'm sorry for the trouble." The words came out in a monotone, and the unflinching expression didn't match the apology, which was more likely a political call, but Naruto - still - smiled in return.

"We're leaving." The flat statement broke across the fearful concentration of the two shinobi besides him. The child stepped back, looking ancient and decrepit, despite being clearly around Naruto's own age, before turning towards Naruto for a second, thinking. "What is your name?"

_But - what a shame - that he had already decided._Naruto offered Gaara a warm - if not uncertain - smile, but he never gave any inclination to answering the other shinobi's questions, merely grinning mutely back at the shinobi, even when the three had already descended to the other side of the curving street.

: x x x x x x x x x :

"_Where is he?_" A seething whisper broke out amidst utter silence. "He's _four hours late!_"

"Of course he is," Naruto replied placidly. "Did you really expect anything less?"

"Hn." Sasuke murmured, the sound low and grating in the humid summer heat, in muted agreement.

"Yo!" A cheerful, crisp voice broke out amidst the sound of murmuring water below the brightly painted bridge before them.

"_You're late_!" Sakura fumed, turning on her heel to face the Jounin.

"About that, I actually got lost on the road of life."

Beryl eyes narrowed in accusation. "Would it really just kill you to be on time just _once, _sensei?"

"Don't get upset." Kakashi cautioned, voice solemn now, even as he procured three white papers from his weapons' pouch. "I actually have a decent excuse this time. I've nominated all three of you for the Chuunin Exams."

"The Chuunin Exams?" Naruto repeated slowly. "That's being held in Konoha this year, isn't it?"

"It is." Kakashi confirmed. "It's an entirely voluntary choice. One person, or all three, of a team can be qualified. The tests are all graded individually, anyways."

"When is it, sensei?" Sakura inquired, even as she tentatively took her slip of paper.

"Soon." Kakashi replied vaguely. "It'll be held on the third floor of the Academy."

Naruto's brow contorted in confusion. "But how will we know when it'll start, if you won't tell us?"

"It's on the fifth of the month." The man hesitated, turning a rolling obsidian eye towards the three. "There won't be any team meetings until then. I'll only be able to meet you up there." His forefinger reached across the palm of his other hand in a deformed symbol - a quick and cheery "Bye!" - before he vanished in a stifling cloud of smoke and charred leaves.

Complete and utter silence ensued.

Naruto glanced around swiftly because something was undeniably wrong with Kakashi's logic somewhere, like a cracking end of a new kunai. It rang of perfection, and yet, some small discrepenacy burned through his mind like fire.

Sasuke seemed undeniably nervous... Or was it really that he was excited? His hands trembled, and his eyes were brighter than Naruto had ever seen them before. Obsidian eyes slid quickly back to the other two before he slipped his paper into his pouch.

"Are you going, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked timidly, even as her fingers pressed down on her own form, leaving dark smudges on the fresh ink.

Sasuke glanced back towards her, on the verge of murmuring a contemptuous retort, lips parted to utter a disdainful _'shut up. Of course I'm going._' And yet - _that sense of distant crying and a breath whispering his name soundlessly against his ear_- how could he spite her for her concern? "I am." His words were surprisingly delicate, and carefully chosen in contrast to what he had initially intended. "I want to see both of you there, too. It wouldn't be the same if the team wasn't present." The words grated against his tongue, like sandpaper, - for whoever heard of a sentimental Uchiha? - but looking up, he could see that he had done the right thing. Sakura smiled up at him, wan face determined, and green eyes glittering like emerald jewels, insecurity lost for the winds.

"Of course, Sasuke." Naruto replied easily - _fellow brother, not in blood but in history. Which would matter more when time finally ran out? -_ "What do you take me for?"

"Hn." It was a single note of sound, dull and almost offensively drab, but by now, they had learned to interpret his speech, even if only in the vaguest sense.

A smile broke out over Naruto's face, light swathing his features as his eyes lit up like a lantern of blue fires, and Sakura blushed, cheeks stained crimson, at his mutual agreement. It was really only for a moment - an awkward, uncertain, and wholly inappropriate moment - in which all of them stood together, grinning and smiling and _blushing _for some reason, but he felt like he was home, almost - uncomfortable warmth rested contently in his uneasy stomach, even as he spoke. His eyes sparkled, his mouth moved to form pleasantries and awkward conversation - but he was happy. And it was almost enough to make him forget what family - _with its red stains and triangular crimson eyes - _meant to him.

* * *

Hi! :D This chapter focuses more on Sasuke and Sakura, as I hope that you noticed, even though it was originally meant to be just Naruto. But all the other chapters center on him alone, so I began with him and started working outwards. The scenes with Sakura and Naruto aren't meant to be interpreted as NaruSaku romance. I'm trying to develop these characters, and interaction with the others is the best way to do this.

Sakura is changing in the way that she always should have had. Kishimoto did a very good job of glossing over her character, but I don't think that it's enough. Within each individual should be a waking spirit, and as each person grows to live, experience, and endure, the spirit grows and matures with the person. She is turning into the person that I always thought that she'd turn out to be when she grew up, in my story.

As for Sasuke... Much of his early maturation and enduration with his team is due to the death scene from earlier. There's a profound link between Sasuke and Naruto going on, and it's a friendship that's so entirely unique to themselves, alone. He's not a very huggable person, so his words and gestures have to be interpreted as metaphorical signs of friendship. His compassion will extend, in the limited ways that it can at the moment. It'll take time, of course, but I think that I can nail it down eventually. And the more I write in their perspective, the more differences you'll see with my writing. Sakura's perspective will probably include more present-tense structures, and Sasuke... slashes and semicolons and commas and italics.

As for the poll: _Naruto x Temari _won out. I'll be placing hints and traces of the relationship - I'm not sure if an all-out romance will work too well, but I'll try. :D

My updates are going to be far less frequent... than they already are, that is. Each summer break is the only time that I'll have to FF now, I think, but I wanted to get this chapter out after working on it forever, as a pacifying chapter release and a chance for me to post this little notice.

Leave a review and have a nice day~! :D


	6. End

All of you must hate me at this point.

All of you are now going to hate me even more.

Sorry! D: (You'll see why)

* * *

_He thinks of saffron. He thinks of cream and spice and the sharp tang of pepper. Dreamily, he imagines distant brick houses with chimneys hard at work and puffing out black smoke._

_No one ever suspects him of dreaming on the job, of not giving it any less than his very best. But these sets of could-be and never-will-be Chuunin causes him to snort in disgust and turn away, and he'd certainly get a notice, at least a warning, for that so -_

_So he dreams as they write. And with his pericheral vision, he catches the stupid cheaters and the obvious shuffles of paper with hardly a blink in their direction._

_This isn't work, he thinks. For him, Ibiki, this is child's play, and yet the Hokage asked him -_

_He smiles at their mute horror when he lays down the rules for them to be Chuunin. Well, perhaps this is work, he muses to himself, as he puts down his hat and hears the gasps at his much-scarred head. Perhaps, but not much..._

_He sees children timidly putting their hands up in noble sacrifice, and of teams trooping off by the tens. He sees a girl with pink hair stare at him resolutely and a blue-eyed Hyuuga prod her fingers together in deliberation._

_"Sir," a voice pipes up. "Sir, if you please, may I have a word?"_

_Ibiki starts at the noise, and focuses on a blond kid who sits propped up by his chair, cerulean eyes intent upon Ibiki's and, by all means, friendly as he offered the man a quick smile._

_"Yes?" Ibiki barks, and can't help the smile when a bunch of never-should-be-Chuunins jump up from the table behind the blond._

_"I've noticed that you're lacking a considerable amount of hair, sir," the kid says, and then quickly backpedals. "No, let me say that again. You must have gone through much trial and tribulation."_

_Silence. A team quietly trooped outside._

_"Sir," says the blond kid, and a shaft of light from the window hits his eyes - and Ibiki notes their striking cerulean shade - and illuminates them brightly. "I don't think that you, sir, have ever backed out of a mission because of the danger involved. You're much too respectable and scarred for it to be otherwise, right?"_

_Ibiki pauses, and then feels the weight of the kid's words hang in the air like a gaunlet. All of the Genin stop moving - stop breathing - for a moment and - _

_"You have nerve," Ibiki grinds down on his teeth at last. "What's your name, kid?"_

_And the quick friendly smile and flash of blue-blue eyes - "Uzumaki Naruto." And it was with a feeling of something twisting in his stomach that Ibiki recognized the boy for what he was..._

* * *

"_Pfffft_, some Forest of Death, right? I swear I just saw an itty-bitty flower off that corner - "

"Naruto - "

"And it was all yellow and stuff and I think that it's a sunflower and that's awesome, but this is still the almighty Forest of Death and that's sort of sad - "

"Okay, what happened to you being all cool and polite? You were really awesome just a second ago and now you're Naruto again."

"What do you mean, Sakura?" Naruto asked as he loped across a tree branch. "You mean when I was talking to Ibiki? He's tons better at that psychology stuff than I am, him being head of the intelligence department and stuff. But now that I'm back with you guys - "

"Spare me, Naruto, really," Sakura said dryly.

"I'm back to being my usual cheery old self. That's awesome too, right?"

"Hn."

Pause, then - "Did Sasuke-kun just -"

"Agree with me?" Naruto's eyes sparked with mischevious delight. "I'm taking that as a definite _yes_. I'm brilliant - "

"_Not_," Sakura interjected.

"And so is that sunflower-dandellion thing that we passed a couple of minutes ago," Naruto concluded. "And Sasuke agrees, right?"

"Hn."

Sakura shrugged. "I give up on you two, really."

"Lovely to know how much you care," Naruto said dryly.

Sasuke shifted the weight of his pack to the left and said nothing.

"Hey, I have an idea," Sakura quipped. "How about we all act like a team and be awesome together?"

"What, and ruin my individual charm?" Naruto teased. "You just want to get in on my fame."

Pause, and - "You're hopeless, Naruto. You really are."

"Of course, Sakura. Who do you think that I am?"

* * *

Hollow walls and a feeling of burning, intense and ravaging (and the eerie ring of bone on bone)

_This place - what does it mean? _With a vague recollection of red, red buildings and screams and gods and demons and -

And a blond man with blue eyes and flamboyant style - red-white cape and headband tucked low on the bangs.

He feels as if its been years. Once lustrous and glossy, his fur is now scraggled and punctured and damp with moisture.

_He remembers eyes._

Cerulean, beryl, serpentine. Onyx, almost - but it fades from his memory.

_The grass will wither_, and so it had. No grass here - but slime and mold grew from the bars of a metal cage. _But you, accursed demon, you shall forever remain._

He slumbered and quivered in dead sleep -

And, at last, the break of day. The sound of birds and voices and the ting of sunlight:

"... itty-bitty flower off that corner - "

_How positively human_, he thinks jadedly, but doesn't pick up the pieces yet.

And then, in flashes:

A blond man cradling an infant, a seal that burned itself into his memory, death, death, death... and life - _in that child?_

In a second, he draws together the puzzle-pieces, links together the final pieces and looks back at it for the full effect. He knows now, he knows - and -

And with a roar, Kyuubi begins to wake.

* * *

"I feel something."

"The wind? Yeah, it'll do that to you sometime. Sneaky little bugger ought be put to court for how many ninjas that it's double-crossed," Naruto sighed. "Nothing to be done about it, though. Good observation, though, Sasuke."

"No, not the wind." Irritation jaded his words. "It's energy. Chakra. Something's coming."

"I don't feel anything, Sasuke," Naruto said bluntly. "You sure that it's not anything else?"

"I can feel it too, Naruto," Sakura offers timidly. "It's not just Sasuke."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"It's chakra," Sasuke said loftily. "And lots of it."

Pause - and only the dying wind to witness them. And then -

"This feels like a trap," Naruto said at last. "We should run - "

Too late.

Far, far too late, he saw sand trickling across the forest floor - visible as tiny golden beads in the dying grass and withered weeds -

And then the onslaught of chakra like a tsunami rising up to cover him in its velvet waves.

* * *

I'm giving up.

I'm sorry - Really, really, I am. But even when I was struggling to write this chapter out, I couldn't get myself to focus like I had for the last few chapters. D: I'm not interested in fanfiction and manga anymore - and I'm an awful person for saying this, but I thought that I might as well give you guys what I'd come up with so far, so you're not left entirely in the dark.

If anyone wants to claim this story - rewrite it, continue it - PM me and I'd be glad to give you permission.

I'm sorry - I really didn't mean to end the story like this. But I really can't find myself inspired to continue this thing.

Thanks. It's been really fun writing this. And I'm glad I came up this far - and thank you, everyone, for supporting me for so long and being patient about my stilted chapter breaks and all. :D You're all awesome.


End file.
